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SKETCHES 



FROM THE 



DARK CONTINENT 



BY 



WIUJS R. HOTCHKISS. 



» o o B 3 









published by 

The Friends Bible Insitute 

and Training School, 

cleveland, ohio. 

1901. 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Receives 

JUL. 26 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS c\,xxe. N». 

COPY B. 



COPYRIGHT 1 9OI 

BY THE 

FRIENDS BIBLE INSTITUTE 

AND TRAINING SCHOOL 



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PRESS OF S J. MONCK, 
CLEVELAND, O. 



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To my dear parents 
who with rare self-sacrifice 
gave me 
to the work, and whose unfailing- 
love and tender devotioit 
sustained me 
through many a trying hour, 
this volume is affcctio7iatciy 
dedicated 
by the Author. 



' ' The night lies dark upon the earth, and we have light y 
So many have to grope their way, and we have sight ; 
One path is theirs and ours — of sin and care, 
But we are borne along, and they their burdens bear. 
Foot-sore, hea7't-weary, faint they on their way, 
Mute in their sorrow, while we kneel and pray ; 
Glad are they of a stone on which to rest, 
While we lie pillowed on the Pat her'' s breast." 



PREFACE. 

THREE considerations have influenced me in pub- 
lishing these sketches of my experiences in Africa. 
But for these I should not have been persuaded to do so. 
First: — A sense of the Divine call; Second: — This call 
reinforced by, or perhaps I had better say made 
apparent to me through numerous and urgent requests 
from friends in those places where it has been my 
privilege to tell the story of the Lord's faithfulness to 
me in the Dark Continent; Third: — Because there is 
so little distinctively Friends' literature. 

While I am sensitive of the fact that my contribu- 
tion to such a literature may be exceedingly small and 
scarcely worth a place, } T et if it can be used of the 
Lord in arousing an interest and securing the co-oper- 
ation of a few who are not now interested in the great 
work of world-evangelization, I shall feel amply repaid. 
With all our missionary meetings, and in spite of 
all the stirring addresses on the subject of missions, 
there will be no real vital awakening, much less per- 



6 Sketches from the 

manent aud enduring interest, until the glaring facts 
as to heathendom's actual condition and needs are 
studied — actually studied, not merely read as an inter- 
esting, though dreadful tale in the light of the com- 
mand of Jesus Christ, and of the obligation which that 
command lays upon us. 

This volume does not pretend to be exhaustive, 
but merely suggestive. It is not even a consecutive 
record of my life during those four years of difficult, 
yet blessed service, though there has been some regard 
to order in the arrangement of the chapters. It is, as 
its name implies, a few salient points gathered from 
the records of my diary. 

I have tried to depict as clearly as possible the 
daily life of a pioneer missionary in a part of Africa 
which is but little known. 

I could not enter into minute details without 
greatly enlarging the scope of the book, which I did 
not feel led to do. I trust, however, that enough has 
been said to give a somewhat clear impression of the 
actual conditions attending such a work — its difficulties, 
its dangers, its possibilities, its encouragements, its 
successes — and lead to more definiteness in prayer and 
more zeal in service for the coming of His Kingdom 



Dark Continent. 7 

and the glory of His Name in the great lost continent. 
Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God, 
and my earnest hope is that this little record may be 
instrumental in some degree toward filling those hands 
with the Bread of Life. 

Willis R. Hotchkiss. 
Cleveland, O., 2nd. mo., 1901. 



AFRICA'S AWAKENING— AN ALLEGORY. 



THE great giant Africa has been asleep, but he is wak* 
ing up, and the stretching of his limbs is shaking* 
the world. For long centuries he has been lying in a 
stupor right across the world's path-way. His younger 
brother Europe for a long while had to pass clear 
around his prostrate form in order to visit India, the 
elder, but finally hit upon the simple plan of cutting* 
off one of the big fellow's arms, which greatly simpli* 
fied matters and brought about a closer union of the 
two extreme branches of the world family than had 
been possible before. 

The pain caused by this operation really awoke 
the sleeping giant, and now he is sitting up, rubbing 
his eyes, and beginning to ask questions about things. 
He wonders — does this big, black, ignorant savage- 
how these little brothers of his have acquired so much 
power. It's all so new and strange and altogether 
perplexing to him. 

Before he went to sleep he was rich and powerful, 
and altogether beyond the rest of the family in several 



io Sketches from the 

branches of learning; now he finds himself an object 
of pity, or of contempt, or possibly of utter indifference. 
Meanwhile, his children have been growing up uncared 
for, untaught — a wild, lazy, reckless horde at the 
mercy of every adventurer. 

He has dim recollections of the sweet-faced, kindly 
teacher called "Christian, ' ' who taught them long years 
ago, and whose success had been so great in taming their 
wild passions. He also remembers a little, how that 
father and mother with the w T onderful Child came to 
him fleeing from the wrath of Rome, and he threw 
about them the protection of his brawny arm until the 
danger w T as past. And though but a memory, the 
sweetness of it is with him yet, and softens in some 
degree the hard lines which age and trouble have 
furrowed in his countenance. 

And then with shame he remembers how a bold- 
faced, deceitful, yet attractive 3-oung woman called 
Islam, captivated him; he listened to her seductive 
voice and specious reasoning, drank the potions she 
gave him, and then — came darkness and for get fulness. 

Twelve centuries he has been lying thus, while 
Islam, with stern visage and cruel method has forced 
her false hopes upon multitudes of his children. 



Dark Continent. i i 

She tells them of a hard, implacable, vengeful 
Being called Allah, whose rule over men is one of blind 
force, unrelieved by the finer attributes of love and 
mercy. 

Certainly they would not be attracted to any such 
being; but terrified and subdued by her uplifted sword 
they submit, and then she lures them on by promises of 
sensuous delights till they, intoxicated with the dream 
of such a heaven and goaded on to frenzy by the prom- 
ise of reward if they destroy all who oppose, fling them- 
selves in fanatical rage against their brothers. The 
path of Islam is a path of blood. Wherever she goes, 
the clank of the chain, and the crack of the whip are 
heard. Womanhood is immeasurably degraded. Islam 
waylays progress and murders morality. Mercy is for- 
gotten under the spell of her witchcraft, and love is 
paralyzed. Deceitful, double-dealing, unscrupulous 
herself, all who come under the influence of her teach- 
ing partake of her character. 

Her conquest has been steady, but not by any 
means easy. She found many who could not soon forget 
or be easily lured from their allegiance to the radiantly 
beautiful "Christian. ' ' Many years and even centuries 
of carnage it took to obliterate from their memories 



12 Sketches from the 

that face. But time and fear and isolation did the 
work eventually in almost every one. A stalwart 
fellow, Abyssinia, managed to keep his garments 
though they are sadly torn and bedraggled, and his 
ideas have gone awry through lack of companionship. 
But he is coming round one of these days, and under 
Christian's tutelage will become one of her strongest 
allies in the work of bringing the refractory brothers 
into* line again. 

Yes, Christian has come again, and the giant is 
waking up. Sometime he is going to have decided 
opinions of his own about God, and immortality and 
the future life. But those opinions will depend 
altogether upon his teachers. Islam will come, as she 
has come to his children, with her book which tells of 
Allah, and his prophet Mohommed — a fascinating story, 
but cold and heartless. But her day is past, her sun 
is setting, her glory is departing. Another teacher, 
" fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army 
with banners ' ' has come to enlighten poor Africa. 
Her sword is a Book, and that book contains the story 
of ineffable love. She has no theories, no vain specula- 
tions that make nothing clear, no metaphysical disser- 
tations which only make the fog of uncertainty more 



Dark Continent. 13 

dense; she speaks of a personal God, with whom she 
holds sweet converse, calling Him Father, and of His 
wonderful Son Jesus Christ. 

This Son of God has so won her heart, that she 
never tires of speaking His praises. He it is, who is 
the author of her Book, and its every word is precious 
to her. No wonder it is the companion of her quiet 
hours; her solace when sorrow comes, her guide in 
perplexity ; in a word, the solution for her of all the 
riddles of existence! 

In her self-effacing desire that every burdened 
soul should share with her the joys of such a friend- 
ship, she has left the comforts and conveniences of her 
home to enlighten the wild sons of Africa. Much 
suffering she has had to endure in the person of her 
messengers, and privations not a few. But she has 
done it "joyfully for her Lord's sake." 

Once she was compelled to go without bread for over 
fourteen months, and a good part of this time she was 
forced to subsist on the native diet of beans and sour 
milk. But He was with her all the time, comforting, 
blessing, upholding, so that even this poor fare became 
a veritable feast. Then she managed to grow some 
wheat. Fourteen months abstinence from bread gave 



14 Sketches from the 

her added energy in its cultivation. Her joy was 
great as she saw it grow up, and head out, and turn 
golden in the sunlight. It was a beautiful sight to 
her tired eyes. Then it was reaped, a handful at a 
time, and some of her friends whom she had gained 
by this time among the sons and daughters of Africa, 
beat it out with sticks and she had a good supply — 
enough to provide her with bread for many months to 
come. She revelled in the prospect before her. 

But there came a famine, which wrought sad 
havoc among those thoughtless, improvident sons of 
darkness. Time and again she looked upon their 
forms stretched out in death upon the plains; and 
more than once she came near stumbling over a stark 
form, lying in the path, hands clenched, teeth set, 
body twisted as in those last awful convulsions of death 
from starvation. Men and women and children whom 
she could call by name and who were dear to her for 
His sake whom she loved, came slowly toward her, 
with hands outstretched in mute appeal for food. 

Then there came before her the vision of her prec- 
ious wheat, the one luxury toward which she had 
looked so long. Here was a need, she had a supply 
for that need. Which should it be ? her desire or their 







O 
CO 



Dark Continent. 15 

need ? her luxury or their necessity ? must she really 
give it up ? 

Only for an instant did she hesitate, for she saw 
another vision which settled the question forever. She 
saw Him who had once received in Himself a blow 
that had been aimed at her, and she had promised 
Him her heart in return, henceforth to live, not unto 
herself, but unto Him who had died for her. When 
He saw, He felt, and when He felt he did, and per- 
haps it was because she had caught some of that self- 
same spirit, that she now gladly yielded her luxury to 
meet the greater necessity of the famishing ones. 

She could well afford to do without bread for a few 
months longer, but she could not bear to look upon 
those eyes that had closed in death for her; to gaze 
upon those cruel scars which had purchased her free- 
dom from a dreadful fate, and then hear Him say, "I 
was hungry and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye 
gave me no drink; naked and ye clothed me not." 

It would have been very ungrateful in her to have 
consulted her own convenience rather than His express 
wish in this case. The voice of their need was but the 
voice of her Beloved calling her to the exercise of that 
spirit which He had taught her to manifest in His stead 
while He was absent from her. 



1 6 Sketches from the 

For a long time she had forgotten this, and that 
is the reason why poor Africa was forgotten while 
sleeping on through those twelve centuries. She heard 
the seductive voice of the world, listened to its flat- 
teries, looked enviously upon the gaudy apparel and 
rich jewels offered her, thought her place was to rule 
rather than to serve, gave herself up to pleasure's 
intoxication, and very soon forgot Her Lord and His 
parting message to her. 

But now, with self-will submerged in His will, she 
labors patiently and uncomplainingly for the redemp- 
tion of these neglected children of the dark. She does 
not murmur, though far from home among people who 
have nothing in common with her; who are unsympa- 
thetic and unappreciative, often meeting her kindest 
actions with abuse and cruelty, or at best with indiffer- 
ence. 

She can endure this, however, for she expects 
nothing better from them since all their life has been 
spent under conditions calculated to foster such a 
spirit. But the indifference of her friends at home in 
spite of her earnest representations of the need, does 
give her a sense of aloneness almost unbearable at 
times. These friends of hers are good, well-meaning 



Dark Continent. 17 

neople, live in fine houses, dress well, enjoy all the 
comforts and many of the luxuries of life. Indeed they 
have even studied from that same Book which tells 
about Him. It must be that they have not met Him, 
for those who really meet Him are never quite the 
same as they were before. Something in that contact 
has imparted itself to them, and they begin to think 
His thoughts after Him. 

True, they think of her sometimes, and in great 
commiseration for her hard lot as they imagine, 
occasionally send her help, but it is so pitifully 
inadequate! And Christian's efforts are blocked. The 
good she would do she cannot do. She beholds the 
unutterable wretchedness of these around her, and she 
fain would help them. 

She is sure that she has a message that will bring 
new life to them, she has a seed that once planted in 
those hard hearts will rend them so that it can take 
root and bear fruit for His garner. She believes — be- 
cause her Book says so — that this is the only hope for 
these blindly groping multitudes. If there were some 
other she might be less zealous, but how can she rest 
at ease while these are perishing through lack of 
knowledge she might give them? She wonders then 



1 8 Sketches from the 

how her frieiids can remain so careless when such 
momentous issues are at stake ! 

But despite all this, she is surely winning her 
way into the affections of the barbarous sons of Africa. 
Very many of them have been won to Him. The 
sweet story of the Book lays hold of them : they catch 
something of that wondrous life ; the old life is for- 
saken and the old habits drop off as dead leaves of 
autumn when the power of Spring's new life courses 
through the tree. Persecuted, tortured, subjected to 
nameless cruelties, at the hands of their fanatical 
brothers as they frequently are, yea, even martyred, 
yet amid the flames of martyrdom singing the praises 
of Him of whom she had told them. 

Finally wearied, broken, she is urged by her friends 
to leave her beloved task and rest awhile with them. 
Here she is looked upon as an unnatural enthusiast, so 
far is it from being the present custom of the Friends 
of Christ to forsake all and follow Him. Now they 
leave only that which is coyivenient, giving Him the 
bones after they have devoured the meat. As wealth 
increases their houses seem too small, their servants too 
few, their garments too plain ; so while He waits for a 
dwelling, His house in rums, these, forgetting that 



Dark Continent. 19 

they are dependants upon His bounty and grace, rear 
them massive houses, clothe them in gorgeous apparel, 
surround them with every luxury, instead of seeing in 
their increase of wealth an increase of power to do good 
in His name. 

When she tells them the story of Africa's waking 
up, and shows the awful condition of his sons and 
daughters, they say "how very interesting!" and with 
aching heart she sees them go their way to spend the 
price of a soul on some useless extravagance. Africa 
is waging up, but shall it be to Christ or Islam — the 
cross or the cresent! 



20 Sketches from the 



CHAPTER I. 

Africa, past and present— Caravan traveling; its lights and 
shadows — A night attack — A lion in camp* — My first rhinoceros 
— A night tramp in the desert — Charged by a rhinoceros — First 
attack of fever. 

A FRICA is the greatest paradox the world has ever 
seen. Once the most powerful of nations, now 
the weakest; once learned beyond all her contempora- 
ries, now sunken in densest ignorance. Here the 
Pharaohs ruled over the greatest dynasty of ancient 
times; here dwelt Sheba's illustrious Queen, and 
Candace of Ethiopia; from the bosom of Africa came 
the famed gold of Ophir, which gilded the magnificent 
temple of Solomon. Here the infant Christ was 
sheltered while the storm of Herod's jealous hatred 
spent itself. Thence came the bearer of the Savior's 
cross, and here sprang up some of the strongest 
churches of apostolic times. Apollos, mighty in the 
scriptures, powerful in argument; Augustine, Cyprian, 
Tertullian, Dionysius, Clement, Athanasius are names 
immortalized in the annals of Christianity — and they 
belong to Africa. 

But how is she fallen! Her candle-stick is re- 
moved out of its place and she is left to grope amid the 



Dark Continent. 21 

ruins of her former greatness. Failing to use her Ggg- 
given opportunity, it is taken away and given to an- 
other. The light that was in her has become darkness, 
and behold, how great is that darkness ! 

Long has she lain a heap of ruins, a by- word 
among the nations, though greatest of all. She shall 
yet, however, furnish jewels to beautify a better temple 
than Solomon's. Black though she be as the tents of 
Kedar, for the sun hath looked upon her, yet comely 
as the curtains of Solomon she shall be in that day 
when she looks upon the Sun of Righteousness. Spoiled 
now and defrauded of her rights through the selfish- 
ness of her brothers, she too, shall enter in and partake 
of the root and fatness of the olive tree of God's rich 
bounty. Like the lame man lying at the beautiful 
gate of the temple, passed and repassed daily by multi- 
tudes going in and out to enjoy and participate in the 
splendid service, yet unable himself to join the busy 
throng, so Africa lies a helpless giant in the track of 
the nations, huge, yet impotent. 

Round her borders flow the commerce of the rich, 
the gay and the powerful nations of the world. She 
is being spoiled of her jewels and gold, debauched and 
stupefied by their vile potions, stripped of honor, a spec- 



22 Sketches from the 

tacle of woe ! Who shall say, ' ' in the name of Jesus 
Christ, rise up and walk ? ' ' 

The day is fast approaching, however, when the 
Dark Continent shall become ' 'light in the Lord. * ' Open 
doors are being multiplied ; barriers, hitherto insur- 
mountable, are being broken down or overcome ; facili- 
ties are increasing with astounding rapidity. 

It will be many a day yet, before the old and oft- 
times cruel method of traveling by caravan will be 
done away, if indeed it ever is entirely. But in the in- 
creasing number of railways being built from every 
direction into the interior, we read the prophecy of 
better things ; we see the vision of a redeemed conti- 
nent. 

When our party entered East Central Africa from 
Mombasa in 1895, there was no sign of the railway 
which is now being pushed rapidly forward by the 
English Government and completed for over 400 miles, 
so we had to resort to the old method of travelling by 
caravan. Swimming the streams, wading the swamps, 
blistered by the tropical sun to-day, drenched by the 
rain tomorrow, in danger from savage men and attacked 
by wild beasts, winding along the narrow tortuous 
native paths, single file, until feet are like lead, heads 




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Dark Continent. 23 

drooping, tongues swollen, eyes painful — here the 
romance of missionary life loses its fine outline in the 
dead level of actual life. 

Nowhere in the world can such an interesting ag- 
gregation of individuals be found as in an ordinary 
African caravan, and nothing in the world is more fas- 
cinating than such a caravan on the march. From the 
head-man down to the meanest porter — and some of 
them it must be confessed are pretty mean — they rivet 
your attention. Their moods are as fitful as the play 
of cloud and sunshine upon the placid bosom of a 
mountain lake and follow each other just as rapidly. 

The porters themselves are unusually rollicking, 
good-natured fellows, unless it be the first day or two 
when they are getting adjusted to their burdens, and 
then they grumble right heartily. Yet one cannot but 
admire the ease with which they take up their loads of 
65 lbs., besides the accessories of food and personal 
" kit " which often brings the weight up to 90 lbs. or 
more, and swing off with them day after day, in sun- 
shine and rain for months perhaps, at the rate of from 
ten to fifteen miles a day. 

A pathetic interest centres about these black fel- 
lows which, despite their many faults, gets hold of one's 
heart by a hundred tendrils of affection. 



24 Sketches from the 

Given enough to eat they will endure almost any 
amount of hardship. For long years these black men 
have been bearing the white man's burdens through 
malarious swamp and over desert sands, till the caravan 
routes might almost be traced by the trail of bones 
they have left. 'Tis a ghastly but eloquent testimony 
to a body of unrequited, unremembered heroes. 

I say this despite the heartaches they have caused 
me and the serious inconvenience as well as pecuniary 
losses I have sustained through their duplicity. Des- 
ertion is the great bugbear of every caravan leader. 
Few caravans go into the interior without some defec- 
tions of this sort, consequently provision is always made 
for such an event. Since the porter has little to lose 
and much to gain by the act, it is little wonder he 
watches his opportunity, drops his load, steals into the 
bush and in a few minutes is beyond the possibility of 
capture. Three months pay, a suit of clothes, and a 
blanket or two have been paid him in advance accord- 
ing to law. The caravan leader has no means of 
apprehending him among the ever changing multitudes 
of the coast town, so he changes his name, signs with 
another caravan, and perhaps remains with that one 
through thick and thin, just because the mood strikes 



Dark Continent. 25 

liim that way. Sometimes, indeed, he takes his load 
with him, but not often, for this greatly multiplies the 
chances of his apprehension. 

Coming up from the coast on one occasion I had 
an experience which is typical of this sort of thing. I 
with a companion had pushed on ahead of the caravan 
in order to get to camp, and if possible, to get some 
game for the men by the time they got in. It had 
been a long, hard tramp, and we were pretty thoroughly 
tired out when we got to the camping place, but not- 
withstanding this we set out across the hills for 
game, our thought being centered upon surprising the 
men w r hen they came in. I succeeded in bringing 
down a fine large zebra which I left a couple of men 
to cut up while we returned to camp, expecting to find 
tents all up and lunch ready. But nothing of the sort 
happened. Instead, late in the afternoon one came in 
to say that six men had deserted, leaving their loads 
by the path. Men were told off to go back for these, 
but before they got away one of my faithful "askeri" 
(guards) came in with the startling information that 
uo less than fourteen had taken French leave. 

Finally getting enough of those already in to go 
back with me, I set out to hunt up the loads. One 



26 Sketches from the 

has to experience it to appreciate what it means to ask 
jaded, weary men, who have already borne their heavy 
loads at least fifteen miles, to go back three or four 
miles to bring other loads. But such is life in Africa. 
About eight o'clock that night I dragged myself into 
camp, helped to put up the tents which had just 
arrived, got some supper, and then ministered to a 
companion who had come down with the fever. 

We were only half way to our destination, so I had 
to leave seventeen loads at this camp in charge of our 
trusty head-man while we pushed on to the end and 
then sent back men to bring the extra loads in. 

This record of caravan life would be incomplete 
without some mention of the ' ' boys ' ' or personal 
attendants. These are as invaluable on the march as 
they are necessary in camp, and indispensable on the 
station. On the march they look like walking junk 
shops. Over one shoulder is the strap bearing your 
water-bottle or canteen; over the other your field 
glasses; on his head — over his own fez cap of course, 
is your extra hat — helmet or tarai, according to the 
weather. If you have a camera, this is tied on some- 
where, and your extra gun — rifle or shot gun — usually 
completes his novel toilet. 



Dark Continent. 27 

Arrived in camp they put up your cot in the tent, 
open your boxes and take out the necessary camping 
requisites, and spread them out in orderly confusion 
for your use. Then they busy themselves assisting 
the cook — who meantime has a fire started and kettle 
boiling — to get the lunch, for which your long tramp 
has splendidly fitted you. 

In the afternoon, if you have any washing they 
take it down to the stream, and soon the "slap, slap, 
chuck, chuck," as they pound your garments on the 
rocks tell you that they are getting the dirt out and 
alas! the holes in, for this sort of treatment is not con- 
ducive to longevity in linen. 

Meanwhile refreshed by a bath, and strengthened 
by food, you seat yourself to write up your diary, or 
pen the anxiously awaited message to the loved home- 
circle. But sometimes, yea, not infrequently, this 
order of events is rudely disturbed. You arrive in 
camp, footsore and jaded, only to wait — it may be in 
the burning sun, perhaps in a drenching rain or equally 
trying drizzle — for an hour or so until the particular 
porter carrying the tent makes his appearance. Or, 
perchance, ravenously hungry, and weak from sheer 
weariness, you are compelled to wait because your 



28 Sketches from the 

"chop box" is away back at the other end of the long 
line that crawls like a huge serpent across the plains 
and into camp. But in the evening, when the warm 
glow of many camp-fires lights up the thick darkness, 
around each fire a group of laughing, careless black 
forms silhouetted against the darkness, recounting the 
incidents of the day with rare faithfulness to the 
minutest detail, while they watch the puttering, steam- 
ing pot of beans; the trees reflecting weird forms in the 
lurid light; while from out that mysterious darkness 
there falls upon your ears the chattering of the apes, 
the dismal howl of the hyena, the deep hoarse growl 
or magnificent roar of the king of beasts, the weariness 
of the long tramp of to-day and the dread of tomorrow 
are forgotten in the fascination of the scene. 

The very uncertainty that attaches itself to life in 
these wilds, has its compensation, in that it drives you 
to greater reliance upon the guardianship of Him who 
neither slumbers nor sleeps, but is an unfailing refuge 
in every hour of need. How often we proved Him 
true in those days of weary marching and nights of 
danger ! 

The second night we stood guard from one o'clock 
until morning expecting every moment to be attacked 



Dark Continent. 29 

by hostile natives whose spies could be seen skulking 
in the bushes around us, and from that time on we 
were in constant danger from one source or another. 

One night we were startled from our sleep by one 
of our askari thrusting his head in the flap of our tent 
and yelling "Simba ! Simba ! Bwana !" (a lion, a lion, 
master, ) We rushed out, and in the dim light of the flick- 
ering camp-fires a scene of bewildering confusion greeted 
us. All the porters were talking at once, gesticulat- 
ing, and running about, and good reason they had! 
A lion had sprung in from the nearby bush and torn 
down a small tent that had sheltered two of the porters, 
but frightened by the uproar that ensued, left his prey 
and dashed back into the bush carrying the tent with 
him. We returned to our tents, the men gathered 
about the fire and chatted awhile, but soon the camp 
was wrapped in slumber as though such things were 
but a part of the ordinary routine of life. 

One day we had tramped all the morning in a 
drenching rain. There was no road, and the pouring 
rain made all the paths look alike. We had been 
trudging along, feet wet and seeming as heavy as lead, 
and on the whole presenting a sorry, bedraggled 
appearance, when, as we came over a slight eminence, 



30 Sketches from the 

our guide stopped suddenly, pointed to three huge 
rhinoceroses about ioo yards away and yelled "piga! 
piga ! ' ' (shoot ! shoot ! ) There were two of us at the head 
of the caravan at this time, and neither of us had had any 
experience with such large game, so we were rather 
uncertain of ourselves, but getting behind a tree we 
fired, and had the satisfaction of seeing the largest of 
the three fall flat in her tracks. The other two ran 
round and round the carcase, but a few shots sent 
them off. 

An indescribable scene followed! In less time 
than it takes to tell it, a score of carriers had 
dropped their loads, a score of knives were out, and 
forty arms and forty legs were mingled in wild confus- 
ion round the huge carcase, while from more than a 
score of throats the most unearthly yells emanated. 
Slashing, pulling, tearing, yelling, they cut away until 
naught remained but a few bones. The most disgust- 
ing scenes ensued, as the men fairly fought over the 
cast off portions ! Then tying their gory treasure to 
their backs, or upon their loads, they resumed the 
march, not however, without some murmurings, for 
they would fain have pitched camp at once and de- 



Dapk Continent. 31 

voured the meat, utterly oblivious to the fact that there 
was no water for miles around. 

This peculiarly African habit of living entirely in 
the present, without regard to future contingencies, 
brings the native into endless difficulties, and makes 
not a little trouble for the leader of the caravan. 
He not only does not take "anxious" thought for 
the morrow, but takes no thought at all, hence famine, 
starvation, ruin, death, are the result. 

When we were camped on the edge of Taru desert, 
intending to start across its waterless expanse in the 
evening, in order that the men should not surfer so 
much from lack of water, a government official with 
an ox train passed our camp on his way to the coast. He 
startled us with the declaration that there was no 
water nearer than four days march ahead. His state- 
ment was strikingly verified, when one of his oxen 
dropped dead before our eyes, and those remaining 
could scarcely move along! He had started with 
thirty-two and but eleven were living after that feartui 
passage. 

Filling every available vessel with the precious 
fluid, we started before sunset on the hazardous 
journey. The men were gay and light-hearted and 



32 Sketches from the 

started out merrily as though on a holiday jaunt. 
Every mile, however, made its seriousness more ap- 
parent as we came upon the remains of the unfortunate 
bullocks. Night came on and then fifty or more "Wa 
Teita" who were with the caravan, began building 
fires beside the path and feasting on the dead cattle. 
It was a weird, unearthly sight — the fires amid the 
jungle scrub, with the native black figures around 
them talking, laughing, yelling, in utter abandon 
of spirits. 

The Swahilis plodded on however, but after a 
w T hile the laughing died away, the merry badinage 
ceased, and silently the long line crept on in the dark- 
ness. There was something awful about this slow 
moving line of black men in the night upon the desert. 
The scrubby thorn bush on either side was filled with 
imaginary terrors, and some that were not so imaginary. 
The men with their various shaped burdens were like 
dim specters. 

After a few hours they began to lie down in the 
path, and with heads upon their loads fell fast asleep. 
Before ten o'clock we were busy, and were kept so 
until near midnight rousing the sleepers, lifting the 
burdens to their heads and urging them on, but only 



Dark Continent. 33 

to find them in a few minutes again calmly sleeping, 
utterly regardless of the fact that life and death hung 
upon their going on. 

At midnight a halt was called, but it was two 
o'clock before the last stragglers dragged themselves in 
and lay down for a little rest. But, oh joy! as we lay 
there, nothing under us but a ground sheet, nothing 
over us but our mackintoshes, it began to rain. Too 
exhausted to get up, too thankful to murmur, we lay 
still and praised God. 

Starting again at 4 A. M. we reached Mt. Maungu 
at 10, and there, to our delight, high up on the top, in 
the hollows of the rocks, we found the precious rain 
gathered for us, and we camped with feelings akin to 
those that moved Isral at Elim. 

One day we came suddenly upon a mother rhino 
and her baby. She stood perhaps a hundred yards 
away and probably did not see us, for though keen of 
scent and hearing, these great beasts are very short- 
sighted, but hearing the noise she stood sniffing the 
air. John, our worthy cook, happened to be carrying 
a shot-gun belonging to one of the party. He calmly 
knelt and was about to fire when we stopped him, for 
it would certainly have goaded the huge beast to 



34 SKETCHES FROM THE 

desperation to have been peppered with small shot. 
Finally, with head up, and snorting as only a rhino 
can, she dashed for us. None of us had our rifles in 
our hands, for all were pretty well used up, two having 
had fever the night before, and the rest were destined 
to have it yet that day. There was the sound of fall- 
ing boxes as the men dropped their loads and dashed 
for the scrubby trees around. But fortunately the 
animal did not keep her course in the line; if she had, 
some one would have been hurt or killed. But she 
swerved and went down the line parallel with the 
caravan. The askari recovered themselves, opened 
fire and after firing some fifty or more rounds, succeeded 
in bringing her down. 

This day was really the end of the long tramp in 
quest of service for the Master. We had no sooner 
arrived in camp when one after another of the entire 
party of five, stretched themselves out, helpless, in the 
grip of Africa's great scourge-fever. For a week w T e 
lay there, our beds old mother earth, our springs a bit 
of grass, the stronger ministering to the weaker — but 
we were happy, for we were in God's will, and there 
is no sweeter place in all the wide world than that. 



Dark Continent. 35 

We were on the edge of our promised land. As 
we lay there, for the first time we looked into the faces 
of those for whom we had left home and all the hal- 
lowed associations which cluster about that word. But 
Christ had said, "other sheep I have," and these were 
some of them. Bruised and torn through long wander- 
ing, crippled in moral character, seared in conscience, 
will power paralyzed, they were yet sheep for whom 
the good Shepherd had given His life, and they must 
be sought out, informed of His love and brought, as 
many as would, into the fold. 



36 Sketches from the 



CHAPTER II. 

Character of natives — Masai — A journey across the plains — A 
village; manner of living, and result in character of people- 
Appearance of people — Marriage — Slavery — Cultivation of soil 
— An African burial — Who cares ! 

THE natives of East Central Africa, though broken 
up into many tribes each speaking a dialect so dif- 
ferent as not to be understood by members of the tribe 
immediately contiguous to it, and varying somewhat 
even in facial appearance, are yet so nearly akin in 
most respects as to make the description of one suSce 
largely for all. 

They belong to the great and powerful Bantu 
family which comprises practically all the tribes in the 
central portion of Africa from about two degrees N. 
latitude to the Cape. There are some exceptions to 
this rule, however, as in the case of the Masai and the 
Somali or Galla, of Eastern Africa. 

The former are, or have been, for their power is 
largely broken of recent years, the terror of East Cen- 
tral Africa. Having nothing in common with the 
tribes about them, either in language, habits, or per- 
sonal appearance, they might well be called the 
Ishmaels of East Africa. Their hand is against eve r v 



Dark Continent. 37 

man and every man's hand against them. Many a 
time as we have been traveling over the plains, has 
my head-man pointed to a number of sculls and uttered 
the significant word "Masai," and then gone on to tell 
about the stirring days not long past when these 
terrible warriors would swoop down upon them, and 
battles would be fought, in which sometimes they, and 
sometimes their enemies would be worsted. If the 
former their cattle were driven off, and wives and little 
ones enslaved. 

How they came there and where they came from 
is a mystery to which future historians will doubtless 
give us an authorative answer. 

But our narrative has to do largely with the 
Wakamba, who are a part of the great Bantu family. 
They number something like 300,000, or did at least, 
until the recent awful famine wrought such havoc in 
their midst. They are a pastoral rather than a warlike 
people, having large herds of cattle and flocks of goats, 
with a few sheep which, by the way, are covered with 
hair instead of wool. 

The country is mountainous, with a beauty all its 
own, but incomplete owing to the scarcity of timber. 
Here is a record of one of my journeys to Kikuyu 



38 Sketches from the 

in auest of food, which may be taken as quite repre- 
sentative of the general physical features of the country. 
"It is a wonderfully fascinating trip, for in spite of the 
weariness incident upon such a tramp, there is always 
something to interest one, The plain that we travel, 
is like a vast amphitheatre, forty- five miles wide and 
at least sixty miles long. The whole vast expanse is 
encircled by lofty mountains, while two or three stand 
out in lonely exile right in the midst of the plain. 
There is Koma Rock, a great, bare, jagged wart on the 
face of the plain, rising several hundred feet out of the 
level. 

But more fascinating still, is old Donyu Sabbuk, 
w T hich towers up to the majestic height of 6900 feet. 
This was formerly a rendezvous of the dreaded Masai 
in the days when they struck terror to the hearts of all 
the tribes from here to Victoria Nyanza. 

High up on his rugged side they established them- 
selves, and then, watching as an eagle from her lofty 
perch, swooped down upon the Wakamba on one side 
and the Wakikuyu on the other. 

But not the least interesting sight is the snow- 
crowned summit of Mt. Kenia, visible seventy miles to 
northward. The mountain has the appearance of a 




C3 

o 

C 
P3 



C3 

u 

> 

C3 

z 



Dark Continent. 39 

magnificent arch, rising above the clouds, from the 
centre of which arch two glittering columns shoot up 
to an altitude of more than 19,000 feet. My native 
friends have not the remotest idea what that white 
thing is, some thinking that it must be a kind of white 
pigment such as they use in decorating themselves; 
others hold to the opinion that it is like wood ashes. 

There are no ruling chiefs, the government being 
vested in the elders, who are called together to discuss 
matters of interest to the district in which they live. 
There are of course those, who by reason of special 
fitness to command, and bravery in leading in the 
frequent raids, gain more or less of ascendency, and 
are recognized as leaders. 

The villages are for the most part family arrange- 
ments; a father with his married sons settling together 
for mutual helpfulness and defense. Go with me into 
one of these villages; you enter through a narrow, 
tortuous passageway, lined on either side by thorn 
bush; at the farther end is a sort of gateway or low 
narrow opening, which at night is closed up by piling 
thorn bush against it. Crawling through this opening, 
you find yourself in an open space varying from 20 to 
30 feet in diameter, enclosed by a thorn "boma" 



40 Sketches from the 

(hedge) as a protection from wild beasts. Tnis is the 
cattle "Kraal" at night, and at the far side is the 
manure heap. Along one side of the kraal, and open- 
ing upon it are the living-huts, while back of these are 
smaller huts used for storing grain and other food sup- 
plies. These living-huts are circular in form, shaped 
like a bee-hive, built of grass thatch over a framework 
of slender sticks. The only opening in the hut is a 
little hole two and one-half feet high by one and one- 
half feet wide, and into this you must crawl on your 
hands and knees. You cannot stand erect except in 
the centre, so you squat on one of the low seats a few 
inches high and look about you. 

When your eyes have become accustomed to the 
semi-darkness, and your nostrils to the almost over- 
powering stench, an indescribable scene greets 3 t ou; 
Your first feeling must be one of wonder, that in the 
blaze of this 20th century, human beings could yet be 
found living in such a state as this. It ought not to 
be so; it would not have been so if the Church had 
been true to her Lord; and it will not long remain so, 
if we through repentant tears for our past neglect, look 
into His dear face and Drotnise that we will be true 
henceforth. 



Dark Continent. 41 

On one side is the wood used for cooking purposes 
piled high in preparation for the rainy season. In the 
centre are three stones upon which an earthen pot, the 
only cooking utensil, sits above the fire; while on the 
floor amid the refuse and filth are calabashes of various 
sizes, which serve for plate and cup alike. Sometimes , 
these are washed. Do you want something to eat ? 
The woman picks one up, brushes the dirt out with her 
knuckles, and it is ready for use. 

The beds are along the sides of the hut, and are 
made by binding slender sticks together and fastening 
these to props about two feet from the ground, for, of 
course, there is no floor in the hut save mother earth. 
Under this rude bed is usually a young calf tied, or a 
big goat or sheep fattening for a feast, and almost 
always a lot of little kids or lambs frisking about at 
will. 

But that you may understand more clearly the 
manner of life of these wretched people, let me say 
that I have, upon being called to minister to their sick 
at night, counted as many as eleven persons and seven- 
teen goats and sheep huddled together in huts fifteen 
feet in diameter. 

Is it any wonder, think you, that living thus for 



42 SKETCHES FROM THE 

generations with their beasts, the beast has actually 
gained the ascendency in their nature ? that they have 
become beastly in thought, in speech, yea, in very 
appearance ? For in Africa as well as America, a man 
becomes like his habitual associates, whether these be 
men or thoughts. Think lofty thoughts, pure thoughts, 
ana divinity will shine out of your countenance; dwell 
upon the low, the mean, the vile, and the beast will 
leap forth and show himself in brutalized countenance 
and vicious life. But thank God ! there is a stronger 
than the strong man: the gospel is still the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth — even 
though that one be a beastly African. 

The Wakamba are of average height, black, but 
not quite so negroid in appearance as are the natives 
of the West Coast. The men wear absolutely no 
clothing, the women only a small apron a few inches 
square suspended from the lions by a thong of leather. 
The former deck themselves out by twisting brass or 
copper wire about the arms and legs; the latter with 
hundreds of strings of beads about the neck and waist. 

The body is smeared with red clay and grease, and 
the hair is carefully shaved off even to the evebrows, 
eye-lashes pulled out, ears pierced and hole gradually 




C 



T3 

C 



C3 

E 



Dark Continent. 43 

enlarged, until I have frequently seen them pick up a 
tin can on the station and insert it in the ear-lobe and 
use the can as a pocket in which to carry their trink- 
ets. To make the hideous toilet complete, the teeth 
are filed to a sharp point, as sharp as the prongs of a 
fork. 

Marriage is a mere matter of barter, and polygamy 
is universal. A man's social position and influence in 
the tribe depends largely upon the number of wives 
he has, consequently his aim is to have as many as 
possible. This is because wives are an index of wealth, 
for a wife costs among the Wakamba from forty to 
sixty goats, a goat being the standard of value in a 
country where money is unknown. The man thinks 
just as much of his wife as he does of the goats he 
has paid for her, and no more. She is practically a 
slave, a beast of burden, reckoned as just so much 
"Mali" (property.) 

She it is who thatches the huts, cultivates the 
fields — her only farming implement a straight stick 
two and one-half feet long sharpened at the end; with 
this she laboriously digs up the ground. She goes 
long distances, chops down trees with little miniature 



44 Sketches from the 

axes, and carries the wood in great staggering loaas to 
the villages. 

Slavery — I mean the hideous traffic Livingston 
saw — the traffic which once deluged Africa with blood, 
and sowed her plains with human bones — that slavery 
practically ceased to exist when England in 1897 abol- 
ished the legal status of slavery in her protectorate of 
Zanzibar. In Zanzibar, on the spot where once stood 
the greatest slave market in the world, there now 
stands the magnificent Cathedral of the Universities 
Mission, built entirely by natives, under the direction 
of Bishop Steere. 

On the adjoining Island of Pemba, to within the 
last decade a favorite rendezvous of slaves owing to its 
numerous little bays and inlets, which enabled them 
to escape the vigilance of English men-of-war, there is 
now a strong Industrial Mission of English Friends, 
seeking to bring the gospel to these newly created 
freedmen. Nevertheless there is a form of slavery still 
remaining, and which it will be difficult to put down 
entirely, though the end is sure to come in due time. 
This is what is sometimes termed " domestic slavery." 
In this case it is not Arabs who are the captors, but 
the natives themselves. 



Dark Continent. 45 

In their frequent inter-tribal wars, women and 
children are captured and enslaved. Their position as 
slaves may not be any worse in a physical sense than 
it would be in their own tribe, but in dealing with 
slavery, we judge not by the occasional best, nor yet 
by the occasional worst in it, but by the tendency of the 
system as a whole, and judged by that standard, the 
civilized world has passed the death-sentence upon 
slavery as an institution. 

I have had the privilege of rescuing some of these 
unfortunates and restoring them to their tribes. The 
presence of missionaries will do much to stamp out the 
last vestige of this demoralizing traffic. 

The soil varies greatly in different localities, but 
on the whole the country is exceedingly fertile. There 
are considerable stretches of red clay which is of little 
value for cultivation but which supports a sparse 
growth of mimosa thorn and a more or less dense scrub. 
Then too, there are vast areas covered with lava — 
sometimes immense beds cropping out of the ground,, 
again the plains littered for miles with the debris re- 
sulting from some mighty convulsion of nature in the 
dim past. 

But by far the greater portion of the country is of 



46 Sketches from the 

a rich dark sandy loam, easily tilled and of great 
fertility. And there are such vast tracts entirely un- 
occupied that the natives having exhausted the strength 
of a given portion by raising two crops per year with 
but the merest trifle of an effort at fertilizing, simply 
leave it and take up another plot. 

On my station I found no difficulty in raising two 
crops a year, of wheat, potatoes, corn and every variety 
of vegetable. Besides tropical fruits, as oranges, bana- 
nas and figs, such fruits as peaches, apricots, pears 
and plums can be grown to advantage. 

What do the natives grow ? Millet, three var- 
ieties, beans — on bushes from six to eight feet high — 
corn, sweet potatoes and squash. Sugar-cane, manioc 
or cassava — from which our tapioca is obtained — and 
bananas are also cultivated in different localities. The 
sugar-cane and bananas are almost all converted into 
1 ' tembo ' ' the native intoxicant. 

It is a peculiar and suggestive fact that the young 
men do not drink; not until after they are married do 
they indulge in (< tembo," and then it is usually the old 
men who become intoxicated. 

It will readily be seen from the foregoing that 
there is little chance for the developement of the finer 



Dark Continent. 47 

sensibilities of the nature. Love is crushed almost out 
of existence in the choking atmosphere of moral putre- 
faction, and throttled to death in the grip of physical 
degradation. Where a father can sell his daughter to 
the highest bidder — or worse still, rent her out to 
shame by the day or week or month as his cupidity 
may determine, you do not look for the fragrance of 
genuine affection. I thought I saw it once, just a 
glimmer — a suggestion — but I was disappointed. 

Mutu Nyaa came to tell me that his daughter was 
dead. I went to the village; no one about; sat down 
on a log to await developments. A little, chubby, 
dirty child toddled across the open court, and looked 
curiously into a ragged shallow hole on the edge of the 
manure heap. The father crawled out of another hut: 
he had hold of something which proved to be the 
naked body of his dead daughter. He pulled it out 
of the little hut, and dragged it across to the hole and 
flung it down. Stooping down he unclasped all her 
little ornaments, then he selected the best and placed 
them in the little hand, and closed the lifeless fingers 
over them, saying "here are your ornaments, take 
them with you." He went through some incantations 
with the witch-doctor, leaving the child clasping the 



4S Sketches from the 

precious treasures. Stooping down again, he un- 
clasped the fingers, slyly extracted the ornaments, 
closed the fingers over the empty palm as though still 
grasping the treasures, picked the body up by one arm. 
threw it into the narrow hole all doubled up, covered 
it with dirt and manure, and the burial was complete. 
Shocking? Yes, but even this was far in advance 
of the usual proceeding. In nine cases out of ten the 
bodies are not buried at all. A short shrift into the 
bush, at night a horrid carnival of wild beasts, in the 
morning a few scattered bones, and — oblivion! Who 
cares ? Do you ? How much ? Just so much as you 
are willing to give to deliver them from such a frightful 
end, and no more! 



Dark Continent. 49 



CHAPTER III. 

Africa's oppression and its result — A hostile demonstration 
thwarted — What shall be done with the white man? — An 
edict — God's ravens — Missionary duties — Necessity for med- 
ical work — Surrounded by hostile natives — Policy of non- 
resistance — Coals of fire — A missionary foot-race. 

A FRICA'S history is one long record of war and 
carnage, rapine and murder, horrid superstition 
and frightful abomination. Like the angry waves of a 
storm-tossed sea, her multitudes, goaded on by lust 
and greed throw themselves against each other, fall, 
rise up again, and come back to the fratricidal strife! 
Tribe arra}^ed against tribe, the conflict goes on: the 
weaker crushed out of existence or assimilated with 
the stronger. Backward and forward the surges of 
conflict roll, and with each ebb of the fearful tide the 
wreckage is visible. Melancholy sight! slaughtered 
manhood; enslaved womanhood; blighted childhood; 
burned villages; ruined fields; charred and blackened 
valleys where once was peace and plent}'! 

But if there is restlessness and strife within, there 
is also fear and trouble from without. Where the 
carcase is, there will be the vultures. Africa has her 
vultures. Unscrupulous traders, corrupt officials — 



50 Sketches from the 

though, thank God, there are some notable exceptions 
— and Arab slave dealers hover over the devoted land, 
and fatten upon her helplessness. 

But the day of reckoning comes sometime, the 
hour of j udgement strikes when the cup of iniquity is 
full, and then the lean kine devour the fat ones, and 
the blasted ears swallow the full ones. The news- 
papers call it a massacre, but it may be only the turn- 
ing of the worm when it is trodden upon too heavily. 
'Tis the history of America's injustice toward the 
Indians — it will be, yea, already is, the story of much 
European encroachment on Africa. 

In consequence of this, the messenger of Christ 
upon entering a new field here, must reckon upon 
these new and perhaps intenser hates and animosities 
that have been engendered and fostered by the brutal 
and shameful conduct of these leeches of humanity 
which have been sucking the natives' life blood. 

These meet us with outstretched hands, but the 
hands bear a spear, bow and arrow, or rifle. Unable 
at first to discriminate even between an Arab and a 
European — they put all alike under the ban of hatred 
on general principles, and only after years of patient, 



Dark Continent. 51 

toilsome effort, is their suspicion of the missionary 
overcome. 

So it is not surprising that my first months in 
Africa were troublous ones. My life was in constant 
jeopardy. But " if God be for us, who can be against 
us ? " The heathen raged, the people imagined vain 
things; they took counsel together, but God was over 
all, controlling, shaping, directing events to His own 
glory. 

Three months after our arrival in the interior 
found me twenty miles from any companions, with two 
Swahili native workmen and a boy. The natives 
supposing me to be a Government official thought that 
I would have soldiers with me directly, but as time 
elapsed and these did not appear, they began to take 
steps toward my removal. 

Councils were held to discuss the best means of 
ridding them of the white man. One day a band of 
men came from a distance expressly to kill me, but 
were stopped about half a mile away, by some natives 
who, having been to the government post and seen the 
great power represented there, and being awed by it, 
prevailed upon them to give up their project for the 
time being. 



52 Sketches from the 

Finally an extended Dalaver was held on the hill- 
side a few hundred yards from my hut. All day long 
these black men discussed the problem of getting rid 
of me. 'Twas an interesting sight. Have you ever 
watched a crowd who were passing sentence of death 
upon you ? I would watch them a little while, then go 
into the hut and lay the matter before my blessed Lord. 
About four o'clock in the evening a deputation of 
seven were sent to inform me of the decision. They 
solemnly squatted before me, and as solemnly stated 
that they had decided to give me three days to get out. 
If I remained there they would kill me and burn down 
the station. I sent word back that I was there to tell 
them about God and I intended to stay; they would 
find me at the end of three days if they wanted me. 
Throughout this time they threatened all manner of 
things, but did not resort to actual violence. Seeing 
that they did not frighten me, they resorted to the 
plan of starving me out, issuing an order that any one 
found bringing food to me was to be put to death. 
For over a month this was rigidly enforced. 

But mark the hand of God. It would have fared 
ill with me, had it not been for a divine supply to meet 
my need. An old woman frequently passed my hut 




-a 

c 






>> 



Dark Continent. 53 

going to and from her work in the fields. I had seen 
her but two or three times. But every time she passed 
she managed in some way to drop a root of cassava in 
the path before my door. This I roasted and it enabled 
me to eke out my slender supply of provision through 
this trying period. 

What was it that prompted this old heathen 
woman under penalty of death if caught, to drop that 
food before the despised and then hated white man's 
door ? The very same power that caused the ravens 
to bring the meat to the famished prophet by the brook 
Cherith. 

Is God changed? Depend upon it, He has His 
ravens for every Cherith still. Hast thou stood for 
Him when the crowd was against thee ? Be sure He 
will not fail thee. " Commit thy way unto the Lord, 
trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass." 

Finally convinced that I had come to stay, and 
perhaps judging from the fact that my little force of 
three native helpers was not augmented, and there was 
no parade of arms, that I was a harmless sort of being, 
they submitted to the inevitable, came to me and said 
that if I would remove across the river a few hundred 
yards away, I might stay. I met them thus far and 



54 Sketches from the 

removed. And significantly enough on the very spot 
where sometime before the palaver was held which 
condemmed me to death, I began the erection of build- 
ings for permanent occupancy. 

My duties at this time, and indeed thereafter, were 
of a varied nature. There were two languages to 
learn, one of which had to be reduced to writing; 
there were buildings to erect, and for helpers in this 
I had, as before stated, but two Swahili men. My 
dwelling was built of sun-dried brick. Together we 
labored in making them, I taking my turn in digging 
clay, the}' puddling it with their feet, and then mould- 
ing a single brick at a time. It was a happy moment, 
when having laid every brick myself, I saw the house 
fifteen by thirty feet, with two rooms, stand complete 
before me. Then there was medical work — crude it is 
true, owing to limited knowledge, but effective, and 
indicative of the wonderful results that might accrue 
from this branch of mission work in the hand of a 
thoroughly qualified medical missionary. 

Sores, sores, sores, everywhere the revolting sight 
meets you, everywhere the frightful stench assails you! 
Poor, limping, rotting, suffering humanity ! May the 
great Physician in healing thy soul sickness, restore to 



Dark Continent. 55 

thee thy birthright of physical wholeness ! For is 
there not a vital relationship existing between the 
two, the one operating upon the other ? 

Gardening, cooking, — until my native boys were 
initiated — and sewing, complete the list. This latter 
was no small task to manly fingers; for the transition 
from brickmaking or farming to shirt making was 
rather sudden, and not at all calculated to relieve 
the blunderer's fingers of a certain mild kind of torture, 
nor to add beauty and grace to the garments. But the 
w T earers for the most part having never worn clothing 
before were not critical. 

Candles served me for light, and when these failed, 
as they did sometimes, I would lie dowm on the floor 
before the blazing wood fire, and do my writing or 
studying of the language. The nights — however 
hot the days may be — are always cool, for though 
a degree and a half south of the Equator, the altitude 
is such — between four thousand and five thousand 
feet — that a cool breeze greatly tempers the heat. 
The temperature varies greatly. At night it will fall 
as low as forty-five degrees, and by day, rise as high 
as one hundred and fifty degrees in the sun. This, of 
course, has its disadvantages, and necessitates great 



55 Sketches from the 

carefulness to guard against sickness. But by observ- 
ing proper precautions, this danger can be reduced to 
a minimum. Over thirty times I was stricken with 
the fever, and being much of the time alone, had to 
minister to my own needs. As for food, my boy 
would build a fire beside my bed, and I would then 
direct the preparation of it. Yet despite all this, those 
were the richest experiences of my life. In them I 
found that the sweetest place in all the world is the will 
of God. And since He wills naught but our good, 
surely it is the part of wisdom to discover that will, 
and make it life's supreme business to do it. 

But still, in spite of every endeavor at conciliation, 
in the face of the scores who had come to the station 
in almost every stage of this loathsome disease, and 
been cured gratis, when I walked about, I saw dark, 
scowling, suspicious faces, hatred stamped in every 
lineament of the countenance, and hostile demonstra- 
tions were frequent. 

Day after day my men would be driven from their 
work and would come running into the station, some- 
times bruised from their encounters with the hostile 
warriors. 



Dark Continent. 57 

Once they came in thus after I had sent them out 
for some timber, I having gone with them in the first 
instance and selected the timber I required. It was 
some distance from any village, but I had taken the 
precaution to seek, and had obtained the consent of the 
villages nearest the place, to cut the timber. 

I returned with the men, but no one was to be 
seen. No sooner had we begun work however, 
than we were surrounded by a band of natives, who 
skulking from tree to tree, arrows fitted to the bow 
strings, and swords in hand, threatened our lives. 
The situation was critical, and I did something for 
which I was ashamed at the time, and have been 
increasingly so ever since. Having a revolver in my 
pocket — a thing of rare occurrence — I drew it out, 
opened it, and then in the sight of the angry mob, 
took some cartridges from another pocket, filled the 
chambers slowly and deliberately, closed the weapon 
and then returned it to my pocket. All this without 
saying a word. But the act seemed sufficient, for there 
was a hasty consultation among our foes, and then 
they suddenly withdrew. Why I did this I cannot 
tell, because I am strictly opposed to the use of fire- 
arms to quell disturbances of the natives, both from 



58 Sketches from the 

motives of principle and expediency. It is contrary to 
the Spirit of Christ, and that ought to be sufficient for 
any one who follows Him. 

The greatest blunders of Christendom, are those 
in which the church — Peter like — has taken up arms 
in defense of her "rights." 

What a sad and humiliating travesty on the gospel, 
whose every line breathes a sweet benediction of peace 
upon the restless tossings of men and nations, when 
through a mistaken zeal, the followers of the lowly, 
unresisting Christ, fight, and kill, and devour, in the 
effort to extend His kingdom ! It results only in 
somebody's ear being cut off, and the sorrowing 
Savior, lamenting the inability of His disciples to catch 
the real meaning of His mission, has to mend the 
injury to prove that His is not a temporal kingdom 
sustained by brute force, but righteousness, peace and 
joy in the Holy Ghost — peace, lasting as the eternal 
hills, because based upon righteousness; and joy un- 
speakable and full of glory, because the overflow of 
hearts at peace with God and with men. 

But patient continuance in well doing, eventually 
had its effect. Still the old opposition died hard. One 
morning I was attending to the long line of suffering 



Dark Continent. 59 

ones; the last one had been reached, and I was binding 
up her foot, a huge ulcer having eaten away half the 
upper portion to the bone. 

Occupied with my task, I did not notice the 
approach of my boy, Vui, until I heard him say, 
"Bwana nimepiga Mkamba." (Master, I have hit a 
Mkamba.) Finishing my work I looked up, and, used 
as I was to scenes of blood, I gave an involuntary 
shudder at the sight of the lad. A ragged, gaping 
wound in his head, fully three inches long, was pour- 
ing a stream of blood down over his face, and his shirt 
and loin cloth were already crimson. 

He had said nothing about his having been hurt 
himself, so I said, " what is the matter, Vui ? who has 
done this ? " "I went to the river to get some water, ' ' 
said he, " when a man sprang upon me to kill me. I 
beat him off with my club and cut his head, and he 
broke his club over my head. ' ' And master," he con- 
tinued, " there is a great crowd down there and they 
are going to kill us all ! " 

I had been only a few months among them, and 
had not yet succeeded in breaking down their natural 
suspicion against white men. At once it struck me 



60 Sketches from the 

that this incident might in some way be turned to 
account for the Master, though I scarcely knew how. 
So I said to Vui, " We will go down and see about 
it." I went into the house and got a sponge with 
which to wash his wound, and came out just as I 
was, in my shirt sleeves, and started off. Vui looked 
at me curiously, hesitated and then said, " Bwana 
usimepata bunduki yaku?" (Master have you not 
taken your rifle?) "No" said I, "we are here on 
God's business, and He will take care of us, and we 
will be safer anyway without the gun." At such 
times I thought it much better to display no weapon, 
for its very presence created suspicion, and was thus 
an element of danger rather than safety. 

Arriving at the river, which was about two hun- 
dred yards away, sure enough the whole river-bed was 
filled — there being no running water in it at the 
time — with a howling mob of painted savages, armed 
with bows and poisoned arrows, spears and short 
swords. They were evidently bent on mischief. De- 
cisive measures had to be taken, and that quickly. 
So with a wordless prayer, I walked into the midst 
of them, much to their astonishment. This was the 
best course I could have pursued, for they have at first 




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Dark Continent. 6i 

a superstitious awe of a white man, not knowing but 
that he has some unseen method of defending himself. 

The leader of the band, who likewise had a huge 
gash in his head from Vui's club, made a dash at him, 
but springing between them I began talking to the 
crowd, asking them if I had ever harmed them in any 
way; if I had not paid them well for everything that 
I had gotten from them; if I had not ministered to 
their sick; if I had not show r ed them in many ways 
that I w r as their friend. 

Gradually they cooled down and became silent as 
I talked, and when the arrows were taken from their 
bows, and the hands quit playing with their swords, I 
took Vui to a w T ater pool, cleansed his wound, and sent 
him off down the river for water. Then to their 
amazement, I took the wounded leader, pulled him to 
the water-hole, and began to do the same w r ith him. 
They could not understand it. " An eye for an eye " 
yea, a life for a life, is the only law their poor minds 
can grasp, and they rigidly adhere to it. That the 
white man should take his worst enemy and do to him 
the same kindness he had done for his own boy, was 
so foreign to their ideas of justice that they simply 
stood and looked in wonder. 



62 Sketches from the 

Having cleansed the wound thoroughly, and not- 
ing the advantage I had gained, I followed it up by 
saying: "now, if you will come to the house, I will 
put on some medicine." Slowly they followed me up 
the path, thoroughly vanquished. Getting out my 
instruments, I shaved the head, sewed up the ragged 
wound, bound it up carefully, and they went away. 
From that day their attitude changed, the stubborn 
opposition melted away, sufferers thronged the station, 
and some of those who had been most troublesome 
became my staunchest friends. Thereafter I could go 
anywhere through that country unarmed, so far as 
danger from the people was concerned. 

11 Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt 
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say 
unto you, " Love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them 
which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye 
may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." 

But before the natives went away, an event 
occurred which shows the varied nature of a mission- 
ary's duties. They were seated before me and I was 
talking earnestly to them, when Bwewa came up 
carrying a bucket of water for Vui — he being unable 



Dark Continent. 63 

to carry it owing to the cut in his head — such a thing 
as carrying it by hand being undreamed of. 

Bwewa had some scores to settle with the natives, 
and he proceeded to settle them at once in a character- 
istic fashion. With a yell he rushed to his little hut, 
and presently emerged with a huge club in his hand. 
Brandishing this above his head and yelling like a 
mad-man, he dashed for the crowd of natives. They 
sprang to their feet and fled in every direction, Bwewa 
after them. I called to him to stop, but I might as 
well have tried to stop a tornado with a word. He 
would certainly kill some one if he were not stopped, 
so I jumped up and started after him. It was a novel 
foot race : first the fleeing natives, followed by the 
yelling Bwewa swinging his club, and finally myself. 
Down over the hill we went at full speed. I finally 
succeeded in catching my man, and flinging my arms 
about him, tried to talk to him. But there was no 
reason in him : the more I talked the more he 
struggled to free himself. So I made a virtue of 
necessity, flung him on his back, sat on him, and 
thus managed to get him subdued sufficiently to talk 
with him. He gave me no further trouble after that. 



64 Sketches from the 

In the afternoon while I was working in the brick- 
yard, the ring-leader of the morning's attack came to 
the station with a bag of beans as a peace-offering. 
He and Vui made up, and peace reigned between them. 



Dark Continent. 65 



CHAPTER IV. 

A hostile district — An ungracious refusal— Healing of a child and 
the result — An uncomfortable night — A novel wash-rag — How 
a rhinoceros hunt helped the work of God. 

C OMETIMES the Lord was pleased to use some slight 
incident to break down the opposition or allay the 
suspicion of my dusky neighbors. A small thing it 
seemed to human judgment, but the small things weigh 
much in the balances of African opinion. 

There was one district through which it was nec- 
essary for me to pass on my way to another station, 
and the natives of this district for a long time mani- 
fested a peculiar hatred and contempt for the white 
man. I remember passing through on one occasion, 
when I was suddenly stricken with an attack of the 
fever. I kept up as long as I could, until my feet 
refused to bear me longer, and I fell beside the path. 
I observed a village near by and some natives squatting 
outside. Slowly crawling up to them, I begged them 
to permit me to lie in one of their huts out of the burn- 
ing sun. But they contemptuously refused my pe- 
tition, and I crawled under a thorn bush and lay there 
for hours until the fever had spent itself, and then get 



66 Sketches from the 

up and moved on as fast as my weakness would permit. 
But God had His purpose of love toward this people, 
and in His own way brought about a complete change 
in their attitude toward His servant. 

It came about in this way: I was passing through 
the district on another occasion, when I was called into 
a village to see a sick child — a girl perhaps ten years 
of age. You ask me why they were so interested in a 
girl where womanhood is so fearfully debased, and I 
must point out that a girl is cared for on about the 
same principle as a man at home looks after his horse 
or cow — she will bring so many goats when she comes 
to marriageable age. It is to the interest of the father 
to look after his daughters for this reason. 

The child had a huge ulcer as large as the palm of 
my hand, right on the stomach. It was a fearful look- 
ing thing, and I hesitated to try to do anything 
because it seemed to me it had gone so far that there 
was little hope. And then I disliked to attempt it 
with my very limited knowledge, for if there should 
be failure, and the child should die, my position might 
be made very much more dangerous than it was. But 
they urged and entreated, and finally after prayerful 
consideration, I undertook the case. 



Dark Continent. 67 

Somehow from the first the child seemed to trust 
me, whether induced by the kindly manner in which I 
went about it, as opposed to the rough, cruel practices 
she had undergone at the hands of the witch-doctors 
or not, I do not know ; but certain it is she was always 
the first to greet me when I came thereafter to the 
village. I carefully treated her, left some medicine to 
apply daily until I should return, and went my way. 
It was an experiment, and I was exceedingly doubtful 
of the outcome, for natives have a peculiar habit of 
judging, that if a little medicine does some good, much 
will do more good, and give the whole in a single dose. 
But the young father was above the average in intelli- 
gence, so when I returned a few days later I found to 
my great delight, that the child was much improved. 
Again I left some medicine with instructions to the 
father to come to my station in two weeks and get 
more. Promptly to the day he appeared — ten miles 
from his home — reporting improvement, and received 
his medicine. This thing continued for nearly two 
months when the healing of the child was completed. 
From that time there was a radical change in their 
attitude toward me. The children would run to meet 
me far along the path, and the elders would beg me to 



68 Sketches from the 

stop with them over night, or at least partake with 
them of their humble fare. This would not be con- 
sidered very palatable at home, but here, wearied with 
a long tramp, even the humblest fare is relished. 
Sometimes it was beans without any seasoning, eaten 
with the hand from a dirty calabash, again it was 
1 ' udzu ' ' a sort of thick gruel made from rough millet- 
meal and drank from the same dirty calabash, and 
while I ate, the little ones, dressed in their birthday 
clothes would stand around and smile and whisper 
amongst themselves in thorough enjoyment of the 
white man's presence. 

But they were not satisfied until I consented to 
spend a night with them. So I arranged to do so on 
one of my trips. They were delighted when I arrived, 
and plied me with food and honey. While I was sit- 
ting in the hut talking with the young man and the 
little girl, a big ram was pushed in through the little 
opening which serves for a door, and after him crawled 
an old man, the father of Ngongo, who solemnly pre- 
sented the ram to me. I knew the native peculiarity, 
so immediately called my men and instructed them to 
kill the animal and prepare him for the feast. I almost 
wished I hadn't before the night was over, for I did 




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Dark Continent. 69 

think they never would get enough and go to bed. 
I spread my blankets on the rude pallet called a bed, 
and about midnight was able to lie down. I insisted 
upon their leaving the goats outside, but still there 
were nine persons, several chickens and an innumerable 
host of insects, and creeping things without number 
to keep us company. Rats swarmed over me, they bit 
my ears and fingers, and pulled my hair, and wound 
up by eating holes in my blankets, as large as my 
hand. So the weary night passed and the first glimpse 
of returning day I hailed with delight. 

Before leaving, the old man gave me a calabash 
of honey. In dishing it out he got his hand smeared 
with it, and then I saw a new idea in the line of wash 
rags. His grand-daughter — my little girl patient — was 
called, came up demurely, held her head down as 
though it were a familiar operation, and in a trice 
the offending honey was transferred to her woolly 
head. 

Another incident can best be told in the words of 
a letter written at the time: "Last month's message 
conveyed tidings of our difficulty with the natives 
about the purchase of food. All this was overcome in 
a very unique manner as you shall see. A peculiarity 



70 Sketches from the 

of the people which is sometimes amusing, is that they 
are not at all averse to asking a favor of you, even 
though they are at swords points with you. It hap- 
pened that a couple of rhinoceroses had been commit- 
ting depredations among the fields of the natives not 
far away, trampling and destroying the crops, besides 
being a menace to life itself. Accordingly a deputa- 
tion waited upon me, begging me to go with a party 
on a hunt. Friday the 3rd. inst., was the time set. 
Meanwhile Bro. Tool came down with hematuric fever 
on the 1 st. and on the night of the 2nd. came very 
near death's door. Word had been sent postponing the 
hunt, as the animal's haunts were about two miles 
away, But our disposings are not always final. 
Through many a strange and inexplicable event He 
wakes our sluggish senses up to the fact that "His 
ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our 
thoughts." What would you think of a missionary 
going hunting when a brother missionary lay sick nigh 
unto death ? Yet that is just what I did. But let me 
ask }'ou to suspend judgment until you have learned 
the story. Such a course would ordinarily be termed 
brutal and inhuman, but this was manifestly of 
God's own ordering, that not onl3 r I, but every one 



Dark Continent. 71 

concerned might see His hand and give glory to Him 
for a blessed deliverance. I find that one may even 
shoot a rifle to the glory of God, and that such a small 
matter as the killing of a rhinoceros may tend to the 
advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

Early on Friday morning — having sat up all' 
night — I called my men to worship, and had just set 
them about their several tasks, when the stillness was 
broken by a great yelling from the hillside just across 
the river. We paid little attention to it, thinking it 
was a drinking party, until Mutu Nyaa, our staunch 
old friend, came running up, accompanied by a boy 
crying out that the ' ' Mbuzya ' ' was j ust over the hill 
yonder, (about half a mile away). Still wishing to 
avoid going, I told him to run and make sure, sending 
the boy back if it was so. He had not gone far, how- 
ever, before it became plain that the crowd yonder was 
looking for the ' ' white man ' ' and at their entreaty he 
came back and then even Miss Lindburg, our nurse, in 
spite of her woman's horror of hunting wild beasts, 
lent her voice to the clamour of the crowd. 

It began to dawn upon me that possibly God had 
a purpose in all this, so taking my rifle, which Vui 
had already brought from the house, accompanied by 



7 2 



Sketches from the 



Rashidi with another rifle, we set out on a run, 
down the path, across the river, and up the hill. 
Plunging across a corn field and gaining the top, a 
splendid sight met our eyes. 

Every hill- top as far as we could see, was black 
with people, and such a deafening, ear-splitting clamour 
one seldom hears. It was a very foolish proceeding, 
for it could not but excite the brutes and make them 
doubly dangerous, and they are bad enough at the best. 
Before us lay a deep, narrow gully, and the steep hill- 
side beyond was covered with a thick growth of bushes 
in which the rhino had taken refuge. The natives had 
given him a wide berth, and seemed to be paralyzed 
with fear. Crossing the gully we made our way cau- 
tiously up the hill, peering closely into every bush. 
Near the top a young man motioned that he would 
show me where our prey was located. As soon as his 
mission was accomplished, he disappeared and I saw 
him no more. He was not to be blamed however for 
putting no confidence in his bow and arrows, for the 
big animal made a formidable appearance, stand- 
ing as he did with his great ungainly head swinging 
from side to side, evidently much excited by the noise. 

The African rhinoceros is unquestionably the 



Dark Continent. 73 

homeliest brute that lives, and probably the hardest to 
kill. This particular fellow measured ten feet in 
length, and six feet in height. Attached to his pon- 
derous bulk is a hideous head with little eyes, which 
by actual measurement, are no larger than a man's. 
On top of his snout are two formidable horns one be- 
hind the other, the front one being two feet and more 
in length, and the other about half as long. These 
are his weapons of attack. His defensive armor con- 
sists of a covering of hide an inch thick, and so hard 
that a bullet striking him at any great range will 
glance off as from armor plate. 

The bush was so dense on either side of him, that 
I could not get a shot in behind the ear as desired, so 
had to risk one in front, a bad place, owing to the 
horns being in the way. The first shot took off half 
of the front horn and buried itself squarely in the 
centre of his head, whereupon he set up a fearful 
snorting, and tramping round and round in his tracks. 
The next one was planted in the side of his head, and 
still to our surprise he did not drop, but made off in 
the opposite direction at great speed, for ungainly as 
they are in looks, they can travel with amazing rap- 
idity. The natives were simply frenzied when they 



74 Sketches from the 

saw the trail of blood, and with a yell they started in 
pursuit. Over fields, through bushes, across streams, 
we sped at break-neck soeed. Finally we came upon 
him in another clump of bushes about a mile further 
on. When I arrived, every point of vantage for sight- 
seeing was occupied. Every hill-top and tree within 
seeing distance was crowded with an excited throng. 
I had to stand for a little and take it in, so grandly, 
wildly magnificent it was ! I prayed mightily that 
God would give me the hearts of that multitude 
through that day's work. And he did. It seemed to 
me like a crisis in the work of God at Kilungu station. 
For weeks past they had been most unfriendly, and 
would have nothing to do with us. And now the 
Lord had thrust before me an opportunity of ridding 
them of a great danger. They looked to me for deliv- 
erance. What an opportunity to win their favor and 
confidence ! It was a tremendously solemn moment to 
me, for it seemed as though my whole work hung on 
the issue. And God did not permit His servant to be 
put to shame before the heathen. 

The first care of every rhino hunter is to look 
about for means of escape in case the animal should 
take it into his dull head to charge. Close by was a 



Dark Continent. 75 

splendid tree for the purpose, but it had already been 
appropriated by a crowd of young natives. These 
were sent to another tree a little farther away, and 
Rashidi was then posted in the top, Vui next, and then 
Mutu Nyaa last, leaving a convenient limb vacant for 
myself in case of need. Then removing my shoes, I 
crept up to within fifty yards, from whence his huge 
body could just be made out through a net-work of 
bushes, and taking careful aim at his head, I fired. 

If ever I prayed for steadiness of aim, I did then, 
for I felt that my target was a place in the hearts of 
this rebellious people, rather than the animal before 
me, and I must win ! And I did ! Not a sound fol- 
lowed the shot, and I knew that God had heard my 
cry. 

It proved to be indeed true, but to take no 
chances, for experience teaches one here that some 
animals may not be so dead as they seem, Rashidi 
was given the delightful privilege of putting two more 
shots into him from twenty-five yards. 

I shouted to the nearest natives c< akwangamika! ' ' 
( he is dead ) and then there was a stampede. The 
scene that followed beggars description ! From every 
direction the frenzied mob broke through the thicket 



76 Sketches from the 

and surrounded the fallen giant of the plains. The 
din was terrific, everybody telling everybody else just 
how it happened. 

White man's stock took a big rise ! Human 
nature at the bottom is much the same the world over, 
only needing the proper occasions to bring it out. 
One little fellow with true boyish instinct, edged up 
close and laid his hand on my rifle. I saw the longing 
that was unexpressed, yielded it to him, and knew 
that the boy's heart was mine thenceforth. 

Contrary to all expectation, the natives would not 
touch the meat — at least those in this district — 
for the women — here as in all heathen lands the 
bulwarks of superstition — declared that the cattle 
would die, and the rain would not come if it were 
touched, so the elders in council decided accordingly. 
They came from Nzawi — twelve miles away — however, 
and carried off loads of it. But there hasn't been a 
particle of trouble since then. Confidence seems 
quite generally established, and the work seems quite 
hopeful. 

Next day a long file of men came into the station , 
each one bearing a small bag of millet and beans as a 



Dark Continent. 77 

present. Thus does God in strange and unexpected 
ways bring to pass His glorious purposes. 

The battle against prejudice and suspicion had 
been won, and we learned afresh that " God moves in 
a mysterious way His wonders to perform. " 



78 Sketches from the 



CHAPTER V. 

Entering the land— Beginning of vocabulary — "MUTHANIA, " 
Savior; the story of a word — A distinguished (?) visitor and 
sequel — A challenge. 

11 To illumine the scroll of creation, 
One swift sudden vision sufficed ! 
Every riddle of life worth the reading 
Has found its interpreter — Christ." 

THE caravan is slowly and painfully winding its way 
among the rocks up the steep mountain sides into 
Ukamba land. Native villages lie perched in almost 
inaccessible places. Women and children working in 
the fields run in terror before the white man's approach, 
or stand in the distance gazing wonderingly. A few 

young warriors, bolder than the rest, in all the glory 

* 

of red clay and grease habiliments, brass and copper 
wire bracelets, and bow and arrows, come closer, and 
when we stop to rest spring up like magic all around 
us. Stork-like, they stand on one foot, one being 
drawn up and resting on the other knee. Stolidly they 
gaze for a little while, but human nature is much the 
same the world over, curiosity gets the better of them, 
and they begin pointing, and — is that language ? Are 
they really talking? What a meaningless jargon! 







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Dark Continent. 79 

And we must learn that ! without grammar or vocab- 
ulary, or even the faintest beginnings of one, we must 
bring order out of this chaos of sounds that fall on 
our ears. 

But we settle to the task which is to be limited 
only by the years of our lifetime. 

An inquisitive young fellow points to something 
and utters a single word ' ' Nichau ? ' ' What does he 
mean ? We conclude from the association that he was 
asking, " What is it ? " In order to prove it I point to 
the nearest object, which proves to be his bow, and to 
his surprise inquire "Nichau?" He hesitates and 
then answers, " Uta." The two words are hastily 
jotted down phonetically — i. e. by the sound — and 
we have the beginning of the Kikamba vocabulary. 

Then begins the work of compilation in dead 
earnest. Day after day through the months and years 
that follow we fling that word ' ' Nichau ? " in their 
teeth, pester them with it on every possible occasion 
until finally we have mastered several thousand words. 

At first we get only the names of things as we 
point to various objects, then by listening carefully, 
catch short sentences which we hastily jot down in our 
ever present note-book. Of course, for some time, 



8o Sketches from the 

until we become accustomed to the strange sounds, 
we cannot distinguish words — just a babel of sounds 
which seem to be all alike, but gradually they separate 
themselves, and by means of comparisons we manage 
to evolve the other parts of speech. 

But how we long to preach the gospel to the mul- 
titudes who are perishing through lack of knowledge 
all about us ! Here indeed we have need of patience 
lest the greatness of the task dishearten us ere it is 
accomplished. African missionary work needs the 
grace of stick-to-it-iveness in an eminent degree. 

It was long after we were able to converse on 
ordinary topics, before we could intelligently set before 
them spiritual things. 

For two years and a half I was baffled in my effort 
to obtain one word. But it was the w T ord that has 
belted the world with praise : the word that brings 
order out of the chaos of man's vain search after God : 
the sweetest word e'er spoken by human tongue : the 
w T ord which is yet destined to make dark Africa light 
in the Lord. That word was " Savior. " Never had 
it seemed so sweet, so incomparably beautiful before ! 
What a big thing it became to me in those days ! 
In mountain-like proportions it loomed up before 




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Dark Continent. 8i 

me in my thoughts by day and in my dreams by 
night. 

You who have never known its lack cannot pos- 
sibly realize how vast a place it occupies in the scheme 
of redemption. All those weary months in which I 
had been attempting to give out the glad message, I 
had been compelled to circle all about the idea of salva- 
tion, with labored sentences telling what should have 
taken but a single word. 

Hour after hour I've sat with Kikuvi and others, 
exhausting every conceivable illustration in the vain 
effort to draw out that magic word. But with agoniz- 
ing persistency they would beat all about it without 
approaching the thing itself. The very day on which 
I was finally rewarded, I had no less than five persons 
in my room questioning, explaining, but to no avail. 
Never shall I forget the thrill of pleasure that swept 
over me when at last the long search was crowned 
with success. 

Darkness had thrown its thick mantle over the 
sad, sickening scenes of the day, to cover sadder sights 
of revelry and sin by night. Even the brilliant 
vault of the equatorial sky is hidden behind thick 
masses of clouds, and only the mournful howl of the 



82 Sketches from the 

hyena is heard in the land. But with the master pas- 
sion tugging at my heart I made my way to the men's 
quarters and seated myself with them about the blaz- 
ing camp-fire. They recounted the incidents of the day 
minutely, and then Kikuvi — the most intelligent and 
trustworthy native I ever saw — launched into a story 
which gave me reasonable hope of getting the long- 
looked - for word, so I braced myself to listen. 

Bro. Kreiger — laboring in another tribe — had been 
badly torn by a lion sometime before this, and Kikuvi, 
being with him at the time, was the means of his rescue. 
I felt that the word must come now, and two years 
and a half of disappointment was put into the eager 
attention with which I followed his story of the en- 
counter. But he went through the whole scene most 
eloquently, and concluded, even to his having fright- 
ened the lioness away, without using a word which I 
could construe to be the one sought after. Finally, 
however, just as I w r as about to give up again in 
despair, in a modest sort of way he remarked, " Bwana 
nukuthaniwa na Kikuvi ' ' ( the master was saved by 
Kikuvi. ) I could have leaped for very exhuberance 
of joy, but being afraid of losing my precious poss- 
ession I immediately changed the verb from the passive 



Dark Continent. 83 

to the active form and said, " Ukuthania Bwana?" 
( you saved the master ? ) 

This proving correct I said, " why Kikuvi, this is 
the word I've been trying to get you to tell me these 
many days, because I wanted to tell you that Jesus, 
the Son of God came" — "O yes" he interrupted — and 
the black face lit up as in the lurid light of the camp 
fire he turned to me — " I see it now, I understand ! 
Jesus came to ' ' Kuthania " (to save ) us from our 
sins, and to deliver us from the hand of "Muimu" 
(Satan)." 

Never did sweeter words fall from mortal lips. 
The treasure had been discovered at last, and weary 
prospector, lighting suddenly upon rich gold reef, 
never felt keener emotions than did the lonely mission- 
ary when for the first time he was able to frame that 
matchless word ' ' SAVIOR " in a new tongue. And 
besides, it was the first real evidence I had had in all 
those months that the message spoken in such con- 
scious weakness had been grasped to any extent at all. 

They assented, it is true : but it did not satisfy 
me: I wanted certainty. Completely overcome I rushed 
into the house and fell on my face in thanksgiving 
before God. 



84 Sketches from the 

Next day was the sabbath. In the early morning 
I was sitting in the house singing, to the accompani- 
ment of my guitar, a rough translation of a hymn which 
I had just made, when Kikuvi came in and said there 
was a crowd outside who wanted to hear me. I went 
out with all the joy-bells in my soul ringing, and sang 
for them. But I wanted to preach — to set before them 
my new discovery. "Muthania," (Savior,) it rang 
through my being like sweet music. I began to speak 
to them, but had not gone far before I was interrupted 
by a query from Kikuvi, relative to the resurrection, 
which is always an amazing thing to them. This too, 
was encouraging, because questions usually betoken 
interest, and also aid greatly in the work of enlight- 
enment. His question answered, he surprised me still 
further by saying, "Master, let me talk a little." 
Wondering what he could have to say, I gave him 
leave, and in a truly marvellous manner be began to 
tell out the "old, old, story." I listened in amaze- 
ment. I could scarcely believe that he could have 
grasped the thought so intelligently from the frag- 
mentary way I had been compelled to preach to them 
hitherto. But that flash of intelligence the night 
before by the camp-fire explained it all. In that 




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Dark Continent. 85 

blessed moment when the word ■ ' Savior ' ' dawned 
upon his darkened vision, all the scattered fragments 
of truth that had been floating about in his darkened 
mind fell into line, and became one glorious revel- 
ation. 

Yes, and it brought a revelation to me as well. In 
the light of that experience it seemed as though I 
had never before known the meaning of the word 
1 ' Savior. ' ' I had spoken it from childhood ; had 
preached it for years; but somehow it became luminous 
with meaning that night. Over against the frightful 
need which settled down around me there flashed 
a light unutterable, and a scarred hand traced in 
letters of glory "M-U-T-H-A-N-I-A." 

They have no conception of writing, not even 
hieroglyphics, so my writing was usually done with a 
huge crowd gaping through windows and doors, if in 
the house; or, if I were traveling, well nigh tearing 
down my tent in their eager desire to see. 

An amusing circumstance happened in this con- 
nection shortly after I had settled at Sakai, my first 
station. 

A magnificent specimen of a native, tall and com- 
manding in presence, but with only a calico rag about 



86 Sketches from the 

his giant form, came to pay his respects to me. He 
began by telling me what a great man I was, and ended 
by drawing a very vivid word picture of his own 
prowess and greatness. The average native is an 
adept at self-laudation if there is anything likely to be 
gained by it. Having sufficiently impressed me with 
the fact that he was a man of influence in the tribe, 
he adroitly informed me that he wished to become my 
friend. In African parlance this invariably means a 
present. I was unsophisticated, so fell into the trap 
immediately, and my new ' ' friend ' ' departed with his 
present. Before he went however, I learned his name 
and jotted it down in a small note-book, which I used 
as a pocket vocabulary. He was much interested in 
this and had me read it over and over to him. 

Two years and a half passed before I saw him 
again, and then quite by accident. I was on a journey 
some thirty miles from this place when, as we were 
zig-zagging our way through the bush at the foot of a 
mountain range over which we were to pass, whom 
should we come upon in the narrow path, but my 
"friend." He did not recognize me at first, but inviting 
me to his village, turned about and led the way to it. 
It was perched on the mountain side, a good stiff 



Dark Continent. 87 

climb. Upon reaching the village, he left us for a few 
minutes, and then returned with some food for my car- 
riers and myself. 

While we were eating we engaged our host in 
conversation. His surprise was great when he dis- 
covered who I was, and he almost immediately asked 
me if I remembered his name. " Yes " said I, taking 
my note-book and reading from it, ' ' your name is 
Minindi wa Uminvilo. " The effect was electrical. 
His astonishment knew no bounds. Over and over I 
had to read it, showing the magical lines that spoke to 
me after two years and a half and told me his name. 
Then suddenly he jumped to his feet, rushed into the 
village proper, and emerged again, pulling his three 
wives after him, These likewise had to be shown the 
wonderful writing, and finally I had to write down the 
names of all of them. And all this within the limits 
of a single tribe. What about the problem of Africa's 
evangelization in the light of the fact that over three 
hundred and fifty distinct languages and countless dia- 
lects are spoken within her borders, more than three- 
fourths of which have never been reduced to writing ! 
If ever the curse of Babel rested upon a land, that land 
i ? s Africa ! Every tribe is shut off from the others by 



83 Sketches from the 

this barrier. So distinct are these languages, that 
members of one tribe do not understand the language 
of the tribe immediately adjoining them, save in 
isolated cases, where it has been learned through the 
medium of slaves. 

What a challenge to spirit- filled students is here ! 
In this realm of African philology, there is urgent need 
of the brightest intellects and the deepest and truest 
spiritualily. 

The gauntlet is thrown down ! Who will take 
it up? 



Dark Continent. 89 



CHAPTER VI. 

" What's the use ? " — Are the heathen lost ? — A soul's awaken- 
ing; the story of a flower — Getting rid of ear-marks — A ten- 
der conscience — A prodigal's return. 

fllifHAT'S the use of you missionaries trying to do 
anything with these beastly Wakamba ? " So 
spoke a certain official to me one day as we journeyed 
together. Yes, " what's the use?" we reiterate. If 
we are set merely to put our religion over against the 
fetichism of the African, what's the use? If it is 
merely a liberal-minded charity, or a broad philan- 
thropy that impels us to go to Africa, what is the use ? 
If it is only a civilizing agency we are setting up, 
what's the use ? It might be beautiful as a charity, 
and noble as a philanthropy, and audacious as a civiliz- 
ing enterprise, but these are not the reasons that justify 
missions to the African. No ! No ! It is because we 
believe there is a divine potency in the gospel of Christ, 
to reach down to the lowest depths of African beastli- 
ness, and transform it, creating these lost ones anew 
in the image of God; because what Christ has com- 
manded He is able and will perform; because what He 
ca?i do with the dregs of humanity has been imaged in 



90 Sketches from the 

what He has done we are persuaded that even the aw- 
fully degraded African ought to hear the message of 
God's love. And experience has abundantly proved 
that our confidence was not misplaced. He ought to 
hear it because he needs it. The commands of Christ 
are not arbitrary, unreasonable things. Every com- 
mand springs from a distinct need. 

It is said by opponents of missions, that if the 
heathen live up to the light they have they are all right. 
If it were possible for every man to do this of himself, 
the point might be well taken. But in that case where 
were the need of the death of Christ ? It is because 
all were concluded under sin that He came into man's 
place that He might bring man into His place. Be- 
cause there was "none good, no, not one," He, the on- 
ly good one, received the penalty and opened a new 
and living way into the Father's presence for those — 
but only those — who would believe on Him. 

Now the heathen not only do not live up to the 
light of their conscience, but know they do not, and 
deliberately do wrong from practically the same mo- 
tives that inspire wrong doing in civilized lands. 

Let me relate an incident in point. The native 
tribes, as I said before, are constantly warring one 



Dark Continent. 91 

with another, and I had frequently to witness these 
strifes, or at least see the result of them. 

One day I was working in my garden, when a 
large war party passed out toward the plains along the 
hills opposite my station. They were bound for a 
raid upon the WaKikuyu, the tribe adjoining us on 
the north. I had used my utmost endeavor to get 
them to desist from this raid, but without success. 
Kikuvi w r as standing by my side, and as the long 
black line crept on to the music of the drums, I turned 
to him, sick at heart, and began talking to him about 
it. I told him that this raiding and killing was dis- 
pleasing to " Ngai" ( God ); that this capturing of 
women and children and enslaving them was wrong in 
the sight of God. He listened attentively, and then 
exclaimed, " Why, Master, we know that God does 
not like these things !" I was greatly surprised, for 
the popular idea concerning God, is, that He is a great 
being aw T ay off somewhere, too great to be concerned 
with human-kind, and has accordingly left the con- 
trol of the world to evil spirits. ' ' How do you know 
this?" I questioned. "Many moons ago " he re- 
plied, " there was a great storm. In the midst of it, 
Ngai told our fathers, that he was not pleased with 



92 Sketches from the 

their fighting; that if they continued to do so, He 
would withhold the rain from them, and there would 
be a famine; but if they stopped, He would send plen- 
ty of rain, and they should not go hungry. Our fath- 
ers listened to this ' ' Ndoto ' ' ( message ) and for 
some months did not fight. But we like to fight, w r e 
would rather fight than do anything else ; we wanted 
more cattle and goats, more women for wives and 
slaves, so w r e went to fighting again, and have kept it 
up ever since." " Now, " said he significantly," be- 
hold the great " munyalo (hunger) that has come up- 
on us. " For months the famine had been tightening 
its grip upon the land; suffering multitudes thronged 
the station; w r hile everywhere was the fearful spectacle 
of stark forms lying in the paths. 

Here was this heathen man, this savage, directly 
attributing this awful visitation to their disobedience 
of this vision, or revelation, whatever it may be 
called. 

Surely God hath not left himself without a wit- 
ness to any people, how T ever degraded they may be. 
" These that have sinned without the law, shall also 
perish without the law. " But whatever the fate of 
the heathen may be, it rests with us to face a clear 



Dark Continent. 93 

command of Christ our Master, and adjust ourselves 
to it. 

It is interesting to note the manner in which a 
soul first emerges from the blackness of heathenism 
into the broad daylight of Christianity. A pathetic 
interest centres in the first stirrings of that new life 
which is destined to burst the bonds that have held it 
in so long. The story of Vui's awakening is interest- 
ing in this connection. 

He was my "boy"; i. e. personal attendant. 
We were on a "safari" (journey); he as usual by 
my side, or more correctly speaking, just behind me — 
for natives never think of traveling otherwise than in 
single file — when he ran out of the path, and presently 
came to me bearing a flower in his hand, " Bwana, ua 
mzuri hili ? " ( Master, is'nt this a pretty flower ? " , 

You wonder what possible significance could be 
attached to such an ordinary act as picking up a flow- 
er ! You would not wonder if your view-point were 
changed, and you could see the ace in its African set- 
ting. Here it would be unnoticed because of its very 
naturalness, there, it became an epoch in a soul's 
development. 

Flowers in bewildering profusion everywhere 



94 Sketches from the 

abound, but to the native's eye they are as though 
they were not. He never thinks of plucking one, or 
of stooping to smell its fragrance. The sense of beau- 
ty is lost; he has become so used to ugliness, that it 
has come to be his standard of beauty; his ear has 
become so accustomed to discord, that it appears to 
him as harmony; foulness and filth have so demoralized 
his sence of smell, that the fragrance of the flower 
is lost upon him; and even taste is so perverted that he 
calls bitter sweet, and sweet bitter. He is a sad 
jumble of inconsistencies from first to last. 

To me, then, the simple action of my black boy 
spoke a heart-lifting message. It meant the heart's 
awakening, the budding forth of a soul, the first faint 
glimmer of light telling him that he was an immortal 
being. Not that he understood all these things, oh no; 
but a something had taken place which had in it all 
of these elements. 

Well, from that time he began to pluck bouquets 
for me and place them upon my table; then I noticed 
that he began to discriminate between flowers, select- 
ing those which he knew I especially liked. This 
was kept up so faithfully, that should I go away for a 
few days or a week, upon my return I would always 



Dark Continent. 95 

find a fresh bouquet awaiting me. Meanwhile I was 
telling him the old, old story as simply and earnestly 
as I could, and daily he was taking it in and yielding 
to its sweet, powerful influence. I did not urge him 
much, fearing his affection for me might induce him 
to make a declaration which was not grounded on per- 
sonal faith in the Savior. I wanted the Spirit alone 
to do the work of convicting, and He did. Vui became 
a devoted Christian, and thereafter lived an exception- 
ally consistent life, of which all who knew him were 
witnesses. 

But every Jordan has its wilderness, and Vui's 
faith was put to the test. The native workmen, many 
of whom were, nominally at least, Mohammedans, 
began to taunt him. They would point to the holes 
in his ears, great holes into which I could thrust my 
thumb, made while yet a mere lad in his heathen home, 
and jeeringly say, You are only an "Mshenzi" ! 
(Bushman or heathen ! ) 

Finally he came to me and asked me if something 
could not be done to stop this: if the holes could not 
be sewed up. I replied that it would do no good, as 
the parts would not adhere. He came back a second 
time and I .put him off, saying it mattered not what 



96 Sketches from the 

the men said about him, if Jesus were pleased with 
him. He could not help the holes being there, but he 
could keep from living like a heathen. 

This satisfied him for a time, then he came again 
and with great earnestness besought me to sew up the 
holes, ''For" said he, "I am not a Bushman now, 
but a Christian, and I do not want them to call me a 
heathen just because there are holes in my ears." 

I had to submit, though I knew it was futile. I 
seated him on the floor before me, and began the grue- 
some task of obliterating those visible marks of heath- 
enism. At every jab of the needle he writhed in 
agony, and the blood flowed down and dyed his shirt 
crimson. Several times I hesitated, but he said, " Go 
on." The first ear completed, I said, "Vui, let me 
stop now, the pain is too great." For answer he 
rolled his head over on my knee and said, " finish it. " 
So desperately in earnest was he to get rid of every 
vestige of the old heathen life ! 

He was happy for the few days that the threads 
held the parts together, but after a while they came 
open again, and I thought now he would give it up. 
But no, he came to have the thing done over again. 
This time I absolutely refused. A surgeon could have 



Dark Continent. 97 

done it, but I did not care to take the risk myself. 
But this boy was of the stuff martyrs are made of, so 
it was not surprising when he came in one day with 
the parts fastened together with thorns, which he had 
persuaded a native to thrust through the ears. Such 
grit was worthy of a better issue, but he failed, and 
the poor boy had to learn to overcome through the 
blood of the Lamb, and the word of his testimony. 

Oh ! that Christians at home were as determined 
to rid themselves of the ear marks of the old life ! But 
alas, how they cling — selfishness, pride, malice, envy, 
covetousness and a host of other things — marking us 
still as more or less the servants of sin ! 

Again about a year and a half after he became a 
Christian, he demonstrated how a conscience that had 
been seared and blunted through years, even genera- 
tions of neglect, might became so tendered as to 
detect even the slightest deviation from the straight 
way. 

I was sitting at my table one evening after supper, 
when I heard a great noise in the direction of the men's 
quarters. I went out, and there stood one of the men, 
a poor simple fellow named Ndolo, and he was crying. 
I asked him what was the matter. He replied that 



98 Sketches from the 

another of the men, named Rashid, had hit him. I 
went with him down to the quarters, called all the men 
out and carefully inquired into the matter. Finding 
it was only a little thing, such as frequently occurred, 
I was about to pass it off, but that it should not pass 
entirely unnoticed, I reprimanded Rashid, and then 
sent the men back to their quarters, while I returned 
to the house. 

About ten o'clock, while I was busily engaged in 
the effort to unravel a difficult construction in grammar, 
I was conscious of a black form slipping into the room 
behind me. Turning, I discovered Vui sitting on a 
box and acting very shamefaced about something. I 
knew something was up, for it was a very unusual 
thing for him to come to the house at that hour of the 
night. "Utaka nini?" (What do you want?) I asked. 
His head dropped on his black bosom as he replied, 
' ' Nataka Ukuomba na mimi," (I want you to pray 
with me.) "But why do you want me to pray with you 
at this hour of the night?" "My heart is'nt right, 
Yesu is'nt pleased with me," he replied. " But why? 
what have you been doing that Yesu is so displeased 
with you?" The head went lower, "You scolded 
Rashid to-night and I stood by and said nothing. 



Dark Continent. 99 

It wasn't his fault, it was my fault, for Rashid 
hit Ndolo for something Ndolo had done to me. I 
was afraid that you would scold me too, so I kept 
still. But I can'tsleep, do pray for me. " 

It was a little thing, so small that most of us 
would likely have passed it by as of no great conse- 
quence, but it was just big enough to that erstwhile 
slave-boy, to mar his fellowship with the Master he 
had learned to love. 

Let it not be thought however, that these con- 
verts never weaken under the strain of persecution to 
which they are sometimes subjected. The frail crea- 
tures, lacking the reinforcement of generations of 
moral training, not infrequently bring us pain by their 
lapses, but the marvel is that these are not more fre- 
quent and serious. 

Vui did indeed give way once, but it was only for 
a short time. But during this time he requested me 
to let him work with the porters, as he did not want 
to be with me in the house. 'Tis ever so with sin, 
in makes the sinner uncomfortable in the Master's 
presence. 

But Vui got back. Like the prodigal, the husks 
reminded him of the abundance in Father's house, and 
ILofC. 



ioo Sketches from the 

he came back. I was sitting in the gathering dark- 
ness outside the house when he came. He first asked 
me for some medicine, but I did not happen to have 
any for his supposed ailment. Still he lingered, say- 
ing nothing, yet his very actions telling of a struggle 
within. I felt that he wanted something beside medi- 
cine, and he did. But his disease was too deep for 
drugs. Poor boy ! The past few days have been 
days of heart lonliness; he has been away from his 
Master. Under the jeers and persecutions of his com- 
panions his strength gave way, and for a brief period 
he wandered. This led to a desire to be away from 
me, and hence his request to be transferred from house 
duty to porter's work. 

But thank God he had gotten a taste of heavenly 
things, and he soon found that garlic and onions were 
poor substitutes ! I waited, he fidgeted, then it came 
out. " Master, I want you to pray with me. " That 
was music to my ears. It told me that the Holy Spir- 
it had found a place in that black boy's heart. It 
told me too, that this trial of his faith would work 
patience, and patience experience, for he would realize 
now as not before, the genuineness, the reality of his 
faith. 



Dark Continent. ioi 

For a few days the joy of the Lord had been with- 
drawn, and he saw how dark and dismal and cold is 
life without Jesus, after having once tasted of His 
goodness. We came in and knelt down in the dark ; 
we could not see each other, but the Lord saw, and 
the angels rejoiced, and heaven echoed with gladness ! 
It wasn't a polished prayer, but the Great High Priest 
up yonder took the broken fragments, added the sweet 
incense of His own merit, and it came before the 
Father a sweet-smelling savour. It was the cry of a 
child that had lost the touch of Father's hand in the 
darkness of night, and feeling the gloom as a tangible 
thing settle round him, called out for that dear pres- 
ence again. 

Surely "it is the Lord's doings and it is marvellous 
in our eyes ! " " With man it is impossible, ' ' but ' ' the 
things that are impossible with men are possible with 
God." From this vast rubbish heap of creation, the 
Architect of human destinies picks the battered, ruined 
blocks of humanity, and under the friction of His 
unerring hand, makes of them polished shafts to be 
set up in the eternal temple ! 



io2 Sketches from the 



CHAPTER VII. 

The universal consciousness — Fetichism — A revolting dance — A 
familiar sight — A significant sacrificce — An unjust criticism — 
The witch-doctor — Treatment of the sick. 

' ' Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, 
Who have faith in God and nature, 
Who believe that in all ages 
Every human heart is human, 
That in every savage bosom 

There are longings, yearnings, strivings, 
For the good they comprehend not, 
That the feeble hands and helpless, 
Groping blindly in the darkness, 
Touch God's right hand in that darkness 
And are lifted up and strengthened — 
Listen !" 

C*IN, and the need of an atonement for sin, is a fact 
of universal consciousness. In splendid mansions 
of the avenue, and in the rude huts of the savage, men 
are one in the consciousness of God. The extremes of 
human society here meet and stand upon one plat- 
form. They are also one in the consciousness that an 
immeasurable distance separates them from God. 
This has led to a universal effort to bridge the chasm. 
Men look above, and God is there: they look 
within, and sin is there: and somehow, there comes a 



Dark Continent. 103 

sense of uneasiness. Something must be done, and 
instinctively the thought of man turns toward sacri- 
fice. So we have religions manifold: idols innumera- 
ble: fetiches, charms, dances, sacrifices, testifying to 
the world-wide restlessness of human hearts without 
God. 

We therefore conclude that every such sacrifice 
and offering: every superstitious rite and ceremony; 
every idol before which blinded, deluded devotees bow 
down in abject slavery of spirit, is but a testimony to 
a feeling ingrained deep in the human heart that God 
is, that sin is, and that between the two there must be 
a mediator — a Savior. This feeling finds expression 
in myriad forms. Enslaved by horrid superstition, 
imagination runs riot, peopling the universe with ter- 
rors; led captive by Satan at his will, the world is 
racked with pain, and deluged with blood through the 
frenzied efforts of men to find a way to God. 

In speaking of the religious ideas and customs of 
any portion of the lost continent, it must be borne in 
mind that owing to its vastness, what would be true 
of the one portion might not be true of another, though 
there are many things common to all. Generally 
speaking, though, the Bantu tribes are not idol wor- 



104 Sketches from the 

shipers. Fetichism, or trust in charms, is the prevail- 
ing belief. These may be of various kinds — a bone, a 
stick, a piece of cloth, as suits the caprice of the 
witch-doctor or the whim of the subject. I have even 
seen them use thus a piece of paper picked up on the 
station premises. 

If you would have me describe fetichism so as to 
be understood clearly, I should say, look about you ! 
The man who nails a horse-shoe over his door ' 'for 
good luck " has a fetich; those persons who solemnly 
break the " wish-bone " of a chicken, believing certain 
things wished for in the act will happen, have a fetich; 
that man who carries a rabbit's foot about in his pock- 
et as a cure for his rheumatism, carries nothing less 
than a fetich. These might be added to extensively, 
but it is enough to say that there are a good many 
evidences of our heathen ancestry clinging to us yet. 

Then there are sacrifices and offerings and dances 
of various kinds. It should be noted however, that 
all this has little to do directly with God, for since 
according to their idea He has left the control of the 
world to evil spirits, their efforts are directed to prop- 

> 

itiating these. The whole thing becomes then noth- 
ing more nor less than devil worship. 



Dark Continent. 105 

To my mind the saddest thing in the world is the 
fruitless effort of Africa's myriad souls to find a way 
to God. This blind groping in the dark ; this pathet- 
ic reaching out through the night of ignorance that 
settles round them like a pall; this eternal struggle 
against a merciless fate that forever terrifies them by 
its dread approach ; this everlasting cry with no re- 
sponse following ; is certainly the saddest tragedy of 
human life. 

I've seen the African women dance hour after 
hour, in the most loathesome and disgusting manner ; 
abandoning themselves, body, mind and spirit to the 
spell of their awful delusion. With vacant, helpless 
look, yet with the energy of despair, flinging them- 
selves against the phantom forces that encompass 
them about. The breath comes in quick, short gasps, 
the eyes stand out ; the body twitches convulsively; 
the drums beat monotonously what seemed to me the 
dirge of hope; then from this mass of flinging arms 
and twitching bodies there reels forth a form more 
devilish than human, who with an unearthly shriek, 
falls in convulsions at my feet. Do they pick her up, 
carry her tenderly to some quiet spot and minister to 
her there ? Not they ! Paganism has no lesson to 



106 Sketches from the 

teach her blinded devotees in the art of compassion. 
Its whole tendency is toward a calloused heart, a 
seared conscience, a blunfed susceptibility ; no warm 
Gulf Stream of Divine love touches the bleak waste of 
these lives. 

So this woman lies there alone, eyes staring, 
mouth frothing, body twitching. Someone cakes her 
place in the dance, and the unequal struggle goes on — 
ever fighting, ever losing. And all for what? Just 
to find an answer to the imperious question, which in 
some form or other springs up in every human heart, 
"Where is the lamb?" 

Perhaps I can best bring it before my readers by 
quoting from my diary under date of Feb. 20th, '98. 

'* I have just returned from a sight, which, often 
as I see it, leaves me with an aching, burdened heart. 
A peculiar kind of dance has been in progress for sev- 
eral days, and seems likely to continue for several days 
longer, but I have been too busy hitherto to go near. 
This afternoon, accompanied by Mutu Nyaa, I went 
to see this M Kitombo. M It was the same old story of 
God-dishonoring, man-degrading superstition, only 
with new details added. The numerous native dances, 
however much they may vary as to detail, present the 



Dark Continent. 107 

same dominating features of demon worship always. 
This one was strange, but the revolting features 
seemed all the more prominent. Picture to yourself 
forty or fifty women and girls, with a few young men 
and children — for be it understood women are the 
bulwarks of superstition abroad, as they are the most 
k>5'al defenders of the faith at home. All are naked 
save for a strip of cloth about the loins. Each one 
carries in his or her hand, a slender bamboo rod, from 
ten to fifteen feet in length, decorated from the top 
about half its length with white feathers. In answer 
to my query Mutu Nyaa explained the meaning of 
these rods with the significant reply, " Aimu " ( spir- 
its). 

This is the only dance I have seen in which there 
is no yelling, or perhaps I should say, nothing resem- 
bling a song. No one utters a word, save now and 
then when one who has lost all semblance of reason, 
breaks forth with the most unearthly screams. She 
trembles from head to foot, and pays no attention to 
anything that goes on about her. Yet they dare not 
stop: it would seem that their very lives depended 
upon their ability to keep going. They seem utterly 
at the mercy of some demoniacal power. And they 



108 Sketches from the 

tell me that this is indeed the case. Now and again 
other women carrying large calabashes of water enter 
in among the crazed dancers, and dash quantities of 
water into their faces and over their quivering, per- 
spiring bodies. 

I saw one poor woman who had been led out of 
the crowd — so utterly helpless was she in the grip of 
this awful spell — to nurse a little babe. She sat on 
the ground, her arms hanging limp at her side, her 
whole body twitching convulsively, while she paid not 
the slightest attention to the babe at her breast. 

And this is womanhood in Africa, womanhood 
without God ! Oh God, what a pity ! What a 
shame ! Thou wouldst save, but there is no one to 
tell them ! Thou wouldst deliver them from the blind 
groping in the dark, but there is no one to point the 
way ! Thou hast reconciled this sin-burdened world 
to thyself in the death of thy Son, but these and count- 
less others do not know it ! Who is to blame my 
fellow Christians ? Is it you ? Is it I ? ' ' 

Another dance — a familiar sight — which usually 
occurs at the time of the new moon, is weird and fan- 
tastic to a degree. The young men have decorated 
themselves for this occasion with great care, and the 






o 

o 

3 




Dark Continent. 109 

result could scarcely be more ghoulish if there had 
been a design to make it so. The body is smeared 
with a fresh coat of red clay and grease, around the 
eyes are painted large white circles, within these an- 
other circle of bright red, a streak of white down the 
nose, feathers in their hair — if they have not shaved the 
head — feathers on the elbows, and bells on the ankles. 
In the changing light of the moon they look ghostly 
beyond description. 

The men form in line, the women facing them, 
their feet touching; then to the din of the numerous 
drums they lay their cheeks together and } r ell into 
each others ears at the top of their voices, meanwhile 
keeping time to the music (?) by throwing their arms 
and shoulders in the most disgusting manner, moving 
their feet only enough to jingle the rude bells fastened 
to their ankles. The din is terrific, and many a sleep- 
less night have we had as they kept it up into the 
"wee sma' hours, " for the very same reasons that the 
prophets of Baal so frantically besought their God to 
send rain upon the famished earth. 

A peculiar ceremony is that connected with the 
offering of a sacrifice about the time of the harvest. 
All the afternoon the women are gathering at a given 



no Sketches from the 

point, where they roast corn, and have a good time 
generally. In the evening a large fire is built, and 
later on several of them, around a big tree. Then 
their offering of beans, or corn, or millet is placed at 
the foot of the tree, after which the women begin to 
circle around the tree, singing to the music of the 
drums a song of thanksgiving for the harvest. The 
darkness of the night, the great fires sending light and 
shadow chasing one another in the leafy branches over- 
head, the black figures moving about the tree chanting 
the weird and unearthly strains, is a scene that, once 
witnessed, can never be effaced from memory. While 
this is going on, some old men come in leading 
a big goat. The killing of the animal is as unique as 
it is brutal. One man holds the animal upon the feet, 
while another squats before him, grasps the poor beast 
by the mouth, and slowly smothers him to death. 
The blood is then taken and poured out at the foot of 
the tree, while the body is feasted upon. 

It is striking to note the similarity between some 
of the rites and customs, and those of ancient Egypt, 
and especially of Israel. There are the offerings of the 
first fruits of harvest : there are the groves in high 
places where sacrifices and offerings are made ; and the 



Dark Continent. i i i 

most remarkable of all, a sacrifice which very nearly 
resembles the old wave-offering of Israel. A goat is 
sacrificed, cut in two, one half is devoted to the offerer 
for a feast, the other half is cut into small pieces and 
tossed into the air as a propitiation to the spirits. 

Yet I have heard travelers declare that these 
people were without religious consciousness altogether. 
The man who said it was hopeless to save these 
<( beastly Africans" replied to my reference to the 
savagery of our ancestors, that they had religious ideas 
as expressed in the worship of Thor and Woden and 
other deities, while these had absolutely no conception 
of a Supreme being. Then as we journeyed on he 
expressed a great desire to see a native village, ' ' For, ' ' 
said he, ■ ' I have not seen a village since I have been 
in the country." The reason being, that in that 
region, the villages were hidden away in the dense 
bush through fear of the dreaded Masai raids. 

He had seen the few wretched, half -starved, 
greasy, ill-smelling natives, who had been attracted to 
the railway by curiosity or cupidity, or both, and who 
there gave no indication of the real life of the people, 
and from this superficial knowledge had drawn con- 
clusions at once erroneous, misleading as to mission 



ii2 Sketches from the 

work, and therefore unjust and unscientific. It is to 
be feared that much of what passes for criticism of 
mission work, has no more ground than the above. 

The witch-doctor is an important figure in African 
religious affairs. Professing to communicate with the 
spirit world, he holds a remarkable power over the 
poor deluded people. And usually he is keen enough 
to see his advantage and use it. A goat or two must 
always be forthcoming, ere he can hold converse with 
the spirits ; so he fattens upon the helplessness of his 
deluded followers. 

Their treatment of the sick is sometimes frightful. 
The tortures the poor sufferers have to undergo beg- 
gar description. Huge gangrenous ulcers are plastered 
with dirt and manure, and then left for days before it 
is changed ; women suffering from fever are dragged 
from their huts and compelled to dance the evil spirit 
away ; cuts are made in the skin, and a powder made 
from glass beads and various stones is rubbed into the 
quivering flesh. 

In these, and countless other ways, are these 
blinded children of the lost continent made to feel the 
galling yoke of a servitude worse than physical 
slavery. 



Dark Continent. 113 

Imagination peoples the universe with vague, ter- 
rible shapes, ever ready to pounce upon them and rend 
them with pain or disease, or perchance bring some 
great calamity upon them ; so the weary round of 
sacrifice, and offering, and dance, must needs be in 
order to stay the evil which, notwithstanding all their 
efforts, is always impending, hanging like a sword of 
judgment over them. 

Thus the battle for Africa's redemption has to be 
fought, not alone against the stupidity, and supersti- 
tion and hatred of flesh and blood, but here the rulers 
of the darkness of this world have massed their forces 
contesting to the death every inch of ground. 



1 14 Sketches from the 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The day of small things — White ants; how they live, how they 
work — "Siafu"; their method of travelling— Routed out— An 
army ot locusts — Warding them off — Snakes: a meeting rudely 
disturbed — Vui kills one — Lizards— Jiggers. 

H COR who hath despised the day of small things? 
Surely not one who has had experience with 
the myriad forms of insect life in the tropics ! Indeed 
such a one must often have been humiliated before the 
prowess of these diminutive assailants. The wise 
man's injunction, " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, con- 
sider her ways, and be wise, " has a fresh significance, 
when -you behold this industrious little creature literally 
eating your house down over your head. 

Perhaps the following quotation from my diary 
under date of Jan. 12th, '98 may bring the whole 
matter before you briefly with its attendant circum- 
stances. 

"Many things are combining to wrest from me 
the splendid health that has hitherto been granted me. 
Whether Kilungu is more unhealthy than Sakai — 
which certainly is so in a measure at least, due to the 
close proximity to water — or whether from lack of 
nourishing food, combined with excessive labors, or a 



Dark Continent. 115 

combination of these, I know not, but my health is 
being undermined. We have almost no medicines. 
For three days I have been having fever, and I wabble 
about in most uncanny fashion, unable either to eat or 
sleep. The latter fact is due partially to other causes, 
however. Between mosquitoes and rats, one's time is 
pretty well occupied. And it's hard to tell which are 
the worse. The former come ' in swarms ' ; they sing 
in fiendish glee about your head : they whet their 
swords, and after maneuvering for an opening, strike 
home for blood. You strike back, but they hover 
above you and fling derision in your teeth, while you 
sink back to meditate upon the frailty of man, who, 
though made but a little while lower than the angels, 
is helpless before a mosquito. 

The rats come in droves. They eat your shoes, 
your clothes, your food : then sighing for other worlds 
to conquer, they undermine your floor, and one day it 
opens and swallows you up, and you must build anew. 
But this is not all. Their voracity knows no limit. 
They riddle your bed clothing, till the wind whistles 
through the apertures and you vainly strive to keep 
warm. And should you by any chance fall into a 
blissful aoze, you are rudely awakened by these little 



no Sketches from the 

rodents pulling at your hair ; or perchance you feel a 
sharp throbbing pain resembling the pulling of a tooth 
and you start up to shake a rat off your ear from which 
he has been trying to feast. But these are little things 
to which one may become accustomed in a measure ; 
they are but inconveniences of circumstance, and one 
can learn to adjust these to their proper place in the 
sum of African life. 

There are several varieties of ants in Africa, but 
those which give most trouble are the famous termite, 
known as the white ant, and a little reddish-brown 
fellow, called the " siafu. " The former devote them- 
selves to your property, the latter to yourself. The 
white ant has a varied existence. He lives in quite 
pretentious style, building for himself huge, dome-like 
hills of clay, which sometimes attain a height of ten or 
twelve feet. These are honeycombed with galleries, 
the sides of which are of an exceedingly hard sub- 
stance made by mixing a kind of glueish spittle with 
the clay. 

The ants seem to be hatched at the beginning of 
the rainy season, and for the first few hours of their 
existence they are provided with wings. After a rain 



Dark Continent. 117 

they may be seen swarming forth from thousands of 
these domes, filling the sky with a fluttering mass. 

Poor work they make of it though ; they are 
made to crawl, and not to fly; Unable to control 
themselves they are driven by the wind hither and 
thither ; their little silken wings soon drop off, and 
from henceforth they are doomed to an existence 
which is of the earth, earthy. But the brief tenure of 
life is very uncertain, and maybe, indeed is, often term- 
inated abruptly. The natives consider the ant a great 
delicacy during the tender period of his infancy. Woe 
to him if he comes forth in the evening ! A large 
place is cleared and swept clean, the native takes his 
stand in the midst, and with a huge torch of slender 
twigs, singes the wings and toasts the body of the 
flying insects at once; they fall into the cleared space 
and are swept up into bags and devoured with avidity. 
The effect at night from the hundreds of gleaming 
torch-lights piercing the inky blackness, is fantastic 
and beautiful. 

I had a very good mackintosh which I prized 
very highly, as it had been given me by the young 

people of I, . I went on a journey which would 

occupy about a week, so I took the precaution to 



1 1 8 Sketches from the 

hang the coat from the rafters, being careful that it 
was several inches from the wall. This did not deter 
them however; up the wall they came, attracted 
doubtless by the smell, and stopping opposite the coat, 
deliberately set to work building a bridge of mud right 
across the intervening space to the coveted prize, and 
when I returned the carefully treasured coat was plas- 
tered with mud and riddled with holes. Of course 
after a few such experiences, we learn to a greater or 
less degree how to circumvent these voracious little 
creatures, but they are always an incentive to careful- 
ness. 

As you travel along the narrow paths which serve 
for roads, you frequently see a dark line across the 
path before you. Beware ! if you are wise you will go 
carefully and choose your stepping place. These are 
the dreaded " siafu " out on a foraging expedition. 
They will amply repay a careful investigation however, 
under proper conditions. I have frequently watched 
and always admired their movements. That dark 
thing across the path is nothing less than two living 
walls of ' ' siafu. ' ' They march in solid ' ' colums of 
eight, " the line varying from fifty to a hundred or 
more feet in length. When they come to a path they 



Dark Continent. 119 

throw two lines across, composed of living walls often 
an inch high, ant piled upon ant in apparently inextri- 
cable confusion, the main body scurrying in hot haste 
between these protecting barricades. And this is not 
all : out along the path in both directions, important 
little fellows nervously rush to and fro scouting a full 
yard or more — on the lookout for possible danger. 

Interesting ! Yes: but 'tis better to keep them at 
a distance, for they may prove unpleasant, if not actu- 
ally dangerous. Natives assert that the "siafu" have 
been known to overcome no less an animal than an 
elephant by swarming into eyes, ears and nostrils. 

If such diminutive creatures working in concert 
can accomplish such a task, what might not the church 
of Christ accomplish were her membership massed in 
one tremendous assault against the forces of iniquity ! 

I have been awakened at night with a sensation as 
of sleeping upon blankets full of sand. But the 
first move convinced me very forcibly that my dis- 
comfort arose not from sand, but from the dreaded 
11 siafu. " They swarmed all over me, biting me in a 
hundred different places at once in a most painful 
manner, so making a virtue of necessity and leaping 
out of bed, I attempted to brush them off. But they 



120 Sketches from the 

will not be gotten rid of so lightly; you must pull 
them off one by one, and they will frequently leave 
their heads sticking to the flesh rather than relinquish 
their tenacious hold. 

Their foraging completed they again fall into line, 
influenced by some mysterious signal, and march 
forth leaving you free to return in peace. 

Then too, we have that other division of God's 
great army with which he subdued the pride of 
Egypt's insolent monarch — namely, locusts. Here 
again is a practical lesson on the power of concentrated 
effort. One little locust — how insignificant ! Mil- 
lions of these together, they become a terrible scourge, 
a devasting horde. While one day watching the pass- 
ing myriads of locusts, which at times dimmed the 
glare of the mid-day sun, there occurred a thrilling 
sight. 

Regiments and batallions had passed up the valley 
and evidently checked by the mountains were now 
returning. Up from below came the sound of another 
advancing host. Just before my door they met 
Both were flying at tremendous speed, and the com- 
pact was thrilling. With terrific force they came 
together like hostile armies contending over disputed 



Dark Continent. 121 

territory. For a moment the lines intermingled as in 
hand to hand conflict ; then gradually the centre, 
pressed by the still advancing legions from behind, 
began to heave upward as in the throes of mortal 
combat. Both forces commingling, the living wave 
rolled upward and then backward above the serried 
ranks below. Then it seemed like some splendidly 
executed military evolution as the two separate lines 
continued to join and move away together until all 
had passed. The noise was like the distant roar of 
Niagara. But it is soon gone and our hearts are 
relieved as we watch them disappear over the hills, 
though we reflect with sadness on the possible effect 
on the valleys beyond. 

If they can be kept on the move, well; but once 
they settle even*thing green disappears before their 
ruinous advance. So when the cry " Ngie!" (locusts) 
is heard in the land, all available men, women and 
children make it their business to out-do their neigh- 
bors in the volumes of noise they can create. Out to 
their little fields they swarm, rushing hither and 
thither, beating drums, yelling at the top of their 
voices, and so keeping the invaders on the move. 
Consequently they do not do much harm in the day 



122 Sketches from the 

time, but at night they settle down when there's none 
to molest, and in the morning the poor native looks 
forth upon bare twigs where had been blossoms or 
fruit. 

Snakes? Yes, plenty of them of all colors, and 
degrees of meanness ; yet few, if any of the larger 
variety, such as are encountered on the West Coast 
and in other parts. But the smaller ones make life 
quite interesting enough for the average person. 

I was talking to a group of men one day who 
were seated on the floor before me, and they appeared 
to be greatly interested. But all at once there was a 
panic, and with yells and frantic haste, my congrega- 
tion disappeared through the door. I caught the 
word "Nzoka" (snake) as they went, and turning 
in my chair, discovered a snake curled up within two 
feet of me. He did not disturb any more services. 

One evening while sitting on the veranda just 
after sunset, a snake about four feet long, and very 
poisonous, glided under my chair and around the end 
of the house. By the time I had secured a stick, he 
had disappeared. Suspecting he might be in the 
house, I lit a candle and after a little search, found 
him coiled up under a cup-board containing my pro- 



Dark Continent. 125 

visions. Just then Vui came in and seeing the snake, 
cried out, "Wait, Bwana, until I get my bow and 
arrows," and dashed off. I stood guard until he 
returned, then held the candle while he proceeded to 
slaughter his snakeship. The first arrow pinned him 
to the wall, but he was far from being dead. Vui put 
fully a dozen arrows into him before we could get at 
him safely to dispatch him. 

Lizards too, there are in great numbers and vari- 
ety of color and size, scurrying across your path when 
you journey, and gliding over the walls of your honse 
when you remain at home. But one becomes used to 
them, and I even found that they relieved the tedium 
of those lonely months when no white face brought 
cheer or change to my habitation. 

Last of this record of pests, but among the most 
troublesome of all, are the jiggers. About half the 
size of an ordinary pin -head, they yet possess in their 
small anatomy more concentrated, distilled, ready- for- 
use power of inconveniencing humanity, than all other 
insects I know of. Their operations are usually con- 
fined to the feet of their subjects, and in a country 
where so much depends upon feet, the choice is very 
disconcerting. Your first sensaticn is that of intoler- 



124 Sketches from the 

able itching, but unless you are an expert at the busi- 
ness, you fail utterly to detect the offender, for by this 
time she has burrowed her way underneath the skin 
where she goes to work enlarging her borders. For a 
day or two you feel nothing, then your feet grow pain- 
ful, and when you finally get at the intruder, she has 
made a hole as large as half a pea. Multiply this sev- 
eral times and you have a disabled missionary, or por- 
ter, as the case may be. 

The latter suffer greatly from them because of 
carelessness, frequently being incapacitated for work 
by them. 

Other pests might be named, but these are the most 
familiar. And why mention them at all, you ask? 
Well, because the daily tests that come to the mission- 
ary through these little things, really require more 
grace, and greater dependence upon the Holy Spirit 
for strength to overcome, than in the occasional great 
danger or wrenching trial. 'Tis harder to face the 
nine hundred and ninety-nine little vexing things of 
the every day life, in a Christ-like way, than the great 
lions that meet us at long intervals. 



Dark Continent. 125 



CHAPTER IX. 

The promised Presence— Famine — Followed by a lion — We go 
a-fishing — An opportune meeting — Charged by a lioness; — 
narrow escape; a gracious deliverance — The rhinoceros again. 

ii f\0 YE — and lo ! I am with you" becomes 
a living reality under even the ordinary stress 
of missionary life, but it becomes increasingly so when 
peculiar dangers, or exceptional trials bring into 
bright relief the superintending Providence of our 
heavenly Father. Let these few incidents, culled 
from many, call attention, not to a missionary for the 
time being turned hunter, but to the God of the mis- 
sionary, and of every one who dares to trust Him fully . 
On account of a severe famine, which in its 
course carried away vast numbers of the people, I was 
compelled to resort to hunting to procure food for 
those under my care, and thus wasbroughtinto contact 
with wild beasts more frequently, perhaps, than is 
customary with missionaries even in Central Africa, 
who as a rule have fheir hands far too full of loftier 
tasks to spend their time in hunting, except merely to 
supply their own larder. 



126 Sketches from the 

But under the influence of such life-tragedies as 
this, recorded at the time, I shouldered my rifle 
and sallied forth to do battle for the physical need in 
order that I might meet the greater spiritual need. 
11 Here are the little brother and sister of my boy 
Kamau — as sweet children as one would wish to see; a 
short time ago so plump and merry and full of laugh- 
ter, but now, alas ! so pitifully weak and thin — mere 
shadows of their former selves ! The laugh has died 
away from their lips in the grim struggle for existence. 
It would melt a heart of stone to see the little forms 
grow thinner and weaker, and the great sad eyes grow 
more sad and hollow. Of what use is it to preach the 
gospel to such as these, gripped in the clutches of such 
a hunger?" 

While engaged in this business (hunting), I was 
brought into some narrow places through encoun- 
ters with lions and rhinoceroses, of which there are 

great numbers in this region. 

My first actual encounter with the "king of 
beasts" was on this wise. A brother missionary , Mr. 
Krieger and I were camping in a cave at the Athi 
river. In the evening we went across the river — a 
narrow shallow stream at that place, to get some game 



Dark Continent. 127 

for supper. We were stalking a herd of small ante- 
lope, when they scurried off, and we saw four lions 
jump up from the plain about 300 yards away and run 
for cover where the river made a turn ahead of us. 
We circled around toward camp, when just as we 
came over a small rise, a lion cub jumped up right be- 
fore us, and dashed away. Following him with our 
eyes, to our amazement, there on the open plain not 
250 yards away, lay a whole family of them. 

We were in a precarious positon. Not a bush 
or shelter of any description was nearer than the river, 
and that was farther away than were the lions. See- 
ing us, they sprang to their feet and began that 
ominous pacing to and fro which hunters learn to in- 
terpret as of hostile intent. The sun was just sinking — 
a big red ball of fire — in the west, which made shooting 
a matter of extreme uncertainty. We did not dare to 
run, for that would have brought them upon us with 
a rush. So we edged off slowly toward the river. 
The male lion, a magnificent specimen, shook himself 
and started after us. Every moment — and they seemed 
like hours — we expected to see him charge us in real 
earnest, but we prayed that God would keep him from 
doing so. And He did ! Slowly but surely we made 



128 Sketches from the 

our way to the river, yet j ust as surely we saw the gap 
lessening between us and our altogether too inquisitive 
follower. But we did reach the river at last, and as 
we descended the bank, we turned long enough to see 
the lion stop as though surprised at our disappearance, 
and then go back to his family and the evening hunt. 
We heard them all night long as we lay in our little 
cave, yet felt secure with the blazing camp-fire before 
the entrance. 

On one occasion during the famine, my amnuni- 
tion became exhausted. I had no means of procuring 
food now, unless it were by fishing, and the river was 
over 20 miles distant. But there were serious obsta- 
cles to this, for the natives have a horror of fish, 
thinking they belong to the snake family. I over- 
came this scruple however, and gathering my people 
together, we set out for the river. Arriving there we 
found a company of native troops in camp in charge 
of a young officer, who I soon learned had but 
recently come into the country, so was glad to have 
company. 

Having procured some ammunition from him, and 
as we were both dependent upon our rifles for rations, 




bJO 

c 



U 



Dark Continent. 129 

we spent a part of each day in hunting, incidentally 
having some narrow escapes with our lives. 

One evening two of our men came in in a great 
fright, saying they had had a narrow escape from lions 
just across the river. As the place indicated lay near 
the path frequented by natives in their journeys to 
and from Kikuyu, we determined, if possible, to get 
rid of the intruders. Accordingly next morning we 
set out with a few men, well armed. 

We were crossing a ravine, and had started up 
the opposite side, when we discovered five lions on a 
rocky prominence jutting out from the hillside about 
250 yards to our left. There was another rocky point 
about 300 yards from the lions, and I urged that we 
make a detour and come up behind this, which would 
afford excellent shelter for us. But my companion, 
not knowing the habits of these beasts, preferred to 
take w^at seemed to be a shorter route to a clump of 
trees on the crest of the ridge, to reach which we had 
to pass up the hill in plain view of the lions. 

As we started up, they began pacing up and 
down on their rocky platform, in a nervous, excitable 
manner that boded ill to us, lashing the rocks with. 
their long tails, and now and then giving vent to sir 



130 Sketches from the 

pressed roars. We did not dare take our eyes from 
thern for an instant. All was going well, when to our 
great relief, the lioness, taking her three full-grown cubs 
disappeared from view on the other side of the rocks. 
She was the dangerous factor in the situation, and 
now that that was eliminated I turned to see how near 
we were to the trees. Judge my amazement when I 
saw the way blocked by two huge rhinoceroses, which 
had evidently came up in the meantime, and being 
extremely short-sighted animals, had not seen us. 
These huge brutes were forever curning up, when 
least expected or wanted. 

There was nothing to do but turn back. I had 
just broken the intelligence to my companion, who 
was still watching the lion — a big shaggy-maned 
fellow, standing clearly outlined against the back- 
ground of blue sky — when a blood-curdling roar fairly 
lifted us from our feet, and we turned to see the lioness 
dash down from the rocks, and come bounding across 
the hillside toward us ! I have heard lions roar while 
lying secure in my tent with camp-fires blazing 
around, and have rather enjoyed it, but never any- 
thing like this . With every leap — and they were tre- 
mendous — she emitted that roar of defiance that made 



Dark Continent. 131 

the very rocks vibrate. Just for an instant we forgot 
ourselves and started to run, but just as quickly saw 
the folly of it, for we could not have saved ourselves, 
and kneeling down, we began to fire at her. But she 
proved a very uncertain target, consequently only one 
bullet struck her, and that only slightly wounded 
her. 

The firing of the men — the two or three that 
stood by us — was wonderful to behold ; they couldn't 
have hit an elephant ! All my ammunition was soon 
exhausted, then with empty rifle in one hand, and 
hunting knife in the other, I lifted up that mightiest 
of all weapons — prayer. Not a nicely formulated 
prayer — there was not time for that, but just the 
wordless expression of a desperate need. But it was 
enough. The infuriated beast had gotten within 
seventy yards when without any apparent cause — but 
sGod — she suddenly turned at right angles and dashed 
"away. The day of miracles past? Never! So long 
as the God of miracles lives and reigns, so long will 
he manifest His power to deliver His own from peril. 

" But," you ask, " what became of the rhinoce- 
roses ?" Well, they were evidently frightened by the 
charging lioness or by the reports of our rifles, and ran 



132 Sketches from the 

away, for when we turned to look for them they were 
nowhere to be seen. 

We were not quite through with them yet, how- 
ever. We were making our way across the plains in 
the afternoon toward camp, having been joined by our 
men and replenished with ammunition, when they, 
having scented us some distance away, bore down upon 
us with a rush. It is commonly believed that owing 
to their huge, cumbersome forms, they travel very 
slowly, but this fallacy is soon dispelled by a close 
acquaintance, as I have several times proved, almost 
to my undoing. Fifteen miles an hour is attained with 
comparative ease despite their huge bulk. 

Now we were out on the level plains, no shelter 
within reaching distance. But we did find a novel 
retreat made ready at our hand. 

It was nothing less than a big hole burrowed in 
the ground by a certain animal, and large enough to 
contain the two of us, our men meanwhile having fled. 
Into the hole we slid, and then with only head and 
shoulders appearing, fired into the charging rhinos. 
Every shot took effect, but owing to their tremendous 
vitality, and armour-like hide which is an inch thick, 
they seemed not to mind it at all. One of them finally 



Dark Continent. 133 

ran off, and the other, passing within twenty feet of 
where we lay, eventually dropped some distance 
farther on, within sight of camp. 



i34 Sketches from the 



CHAPTER X. 

Another lion encounter — Up a tree — A dangerous predicament, 
and the escape — A wounded lioness — Man-eaters. Anxious 
days and nights — "The lion's share; what it is — A doubt that 
nearly ended disastrously — A fortunate shot. 

A GAIN the long journey to Kikuyu had been made, 
and on the return journey Bro. Krieger accom- 
panied me. The second day, late in the afternoon as 
we were drawing near the station, that is to say with- 
in an hour's walk, we came upon a herd of antelope 
in the bush. 

Knowing my people were in need of food, we 
tried to bring one of them down, but only succeeded 
in wounding one. The herd ran over a ridge before 
us, and we followed as fast as the tall grass and our 
weariness would allow— for we had tramped twenty 
miles already. But when we reached the top of the 
ridge, the antelope were nowhere visible. 

As it was so late, and not wanting to be caught in 
the bush at night, we relinquished further pursuit and 
pushed on toward the station. We had not gone 
more than 150 yards however, when we descried 
what we thought were the antelope in a depression 



Dark Continent. 135 

about 200 yards in front. We kelt for a shot, but 
had no sooner done so, than we rose very quickly, for 
in that brief moment we were both impressed that our 
presence was desired elsewhere. Our supposed ante- 
lopes were lions ; and already they were moving 
toward us, their low, hoarse growls sending a 
chill through us. We did not dare to run — to shoot 
would have been madness ; though it required all our 
resolution to keep from doing both. Six full grown 
animals and five cubs composed the group, the latter 
adding very greatly to the danger of our situation. 

We retraced our steps, the lions following us in 
a zig-zag course, but steadily gaining upon us. Reach- 
ing the crest of the ridge and disappearing on the op- 
posite side we hastened our pace, but the lions, upon 
losing sight of us, sprang forward and in a few 
seconds had gained the ridge and only 90 yards behind 
us. 

By this time we had reached a little clump of 
scrubby trees, into which we proceeded to climb as 
quickly as possible. They were so small that two of 
us could not get into one tree, so my companion took 
one and I another. Neither of us could get very 
high. I stood on a small limb not eight feet from the 



i ^6 Sketches from the 



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ground, so small that it swayed threateningly beneath 
my weight. There was nothing to hold on to, but 
with one knee braced against a branch that shot up 
from the limb on which I was standing, and the other foot 
in the crotch of the tree, I managed to steady myself. 

You ask what had become of the lions all this 
time. Well, for some at first unaccountable reason, 
they had stopped on the top of the ridge, and when we 
finally got our bearings, we discovered that they had 
pulled down the wounded antelope prior to our appear- 
ance, and as it lay behind a clump of bushes, we had 
not seen it. 

Now we found ourselves in a perilous predicament, 
entrapped there in the trees ; unable to get down 
because one or other of the lions kept watch of us ; 
not daring to risk a shot because they were partially 
screened by bushes, and to have wounded one of them 
meant our destruction. But worst of all it was near 
sunset, and there being no twilight there, night falls 
rapidly, and in the event of our being kept until dark- 
ness set in, our case would be absolutely hopeless, for 
they could easily have pulled us from our exposed 
perches, eight feet being no sort of leap for a lion to 
make. 



Dark Continent. 137 

For nearly half an hour they kept us there, while 
they roared and fought over the carcase. It was a 
thrilling experience, but withal the most valuable of 
all my life, because of the consciousness of the abiding 
presence of the Lord. Face to face with death, we 
yet felt that we were ' ' garrisoned ' ' by Divine power 
unto salvation. 

Having devoured their prey, they came forth to 
the charge in a solid body, in triangular form, led by 
the largest of them ; and whereas they had been roar- 
ing and fighting over the antelope, now there was not 
a sound from them. The sun was just sinking, and in 
harmony with the approaching night, an oppressive 
silence took the place of the noisy demonstration which 
had just ceased. 

With every head erect, watching us in the trees, 
noses bloody, jaws opening and closing suggestively, 
and with perfect deliberation they slowly advanced 
toward us. 

Unfortunately, my companion was unable to see 
them at first, owing to a bush which obstructed his 
view, so he requested me to wait until he too could 
see them. Knowing that that first shot probably 
meant life or death to us, we waited until they had 



138 Sketches from the 

advanced to within seventy yards before firing. At 
the first shot the leader fell ; this checked them, and 
before they could advance a second round brought 
down another. This was too much for them and they 
began to retreat toward the bush from whence they had 
come. But we managed to get in a third volley, and 
another came down. As the last one disappeared in the 
bush, we hastily swung from our precarious perches 
and made for the nearest path and home; and none too 
soon either, for in five minutes it was so dark we 
could not see the path before us. 

Next morning, accompanied by Bro. Bangert, we 
went out and secured the hides, and incidentally had 
an experience with the wounded lioness, only two 
having been killed the night before. While we were 
looking at the fallen beasts, one of our men came 
running up, saying that the wounded one was in the 
grass near by. Hastily consulting among ourselves, 
we decided that it was worth our while to run some 
risk to dispose of her, for, if she were so badly wounded 
that she could not secure game, she might turn into a 
man eater, and so become a menace to the whole region. 

During the construction of the Mombassa- Vic- 
toria Lake railway, scores of native workmen and 




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Dark Continent. 139 

several white men were carried off by these blood- 
thirsty beasts. A reign of terror lasting for months, 
permitted no sense of security to any of the thousands 
engaged in the work. I made a trip to the coast just 
when the trouble was at its height, taking Miss Lind- 
berg and Mrs. Allan — whose husband had j ust died, 
and both of whom were broken in health, to take a 
homeward-bound steamer. Upon making our last 
camp before reaching the railroad, having walked a 
hundred miles, we learned that that very morning, a 
man had been carried off from the path over which we 
would have to go next day. And as we lay that night 
and heard the deep- toned roars in the bush around us, 
the experience was not altogether reassuring. But 
the ladies were kept in a remarkable manner, notwith- 
standing their weak physical condition and the nerve- 
racking experiences they had just passed through. 
They being carried in hammocks were kept close 
together in the morning, I, with my rifle walking at 
their side,but we were not molested. 

That day we went a few miles down the line on 
the engine to where we were to pitch camp and await 
a construction train to carry us further. I disliked to 
pitch camp in such an exposed position, but there 



140 Sketches from the 

seemed to be no other course open, so was about to do 
it, when the Gen'l Traffic Manager of the Road came 
down with his private car and placed it at our diposal. 
You will see the significance of this, when I say that 
two nights later, two native men were taken out of an 
open car at that very spot, one of them devoured and 
the other killed by a stroke from the lion's paw. 

The next day we made a few miles further, and 
that night and for several succeeding nights, until we 
finally reached the coast, we had huge fires blazing 
and sentinels posted, while I made the rounds every 
hour, so imminent was the danger. 

A man-eater, by the way, is not a distinct species 
of lion, but simply one that has gotten a taste of 
human flesh, and has been able to gratify that taste a 
number of times in succession until the taste is set, so 
to speak, and thereafter he will run any risk in order 
to satisfy that desire. They become peculiarly bold 
and ferocious, for whereas under ordinary circum- 
stances a circle of good camp-fires is sufficient guar- 
anty of safety, a genuine man-eater will not hesitate 
to spring right into the midst of a camp thus 
protected, and with an additional barrier in the shape 
of an eight foot hedge, in his frenzy for human prey. 



Dark Continent. 141 

It can be seen how important it was in our 
encounter with the wounded lioness, to get rid of such 
a possibility. Accordingly, we advanced cautiously 
toward the place indicated, and as we approached, saw 
the object of our search run into a thick copse. One 
good sized tree stood within forty yards of the copse, 
and reaching it we could hear the wounded animal 
growling but could not see her. Mr. Bangert was 
sent up the tree to discover her if possible, and fire upon 
her. But he could not see her, so thick was the bush. 
Then it was arranged that Mr. Kreiger fire into 
the bush in the direction from whence the sounds 
emanated, and if he hit her, well — and if not he might 
drive her out of cover and give us a chance to bring 
her down. A fierce growl and a crackling of the bush 
followed the shot, but instead of coming toward us 
she went out on the other side, and when we ran 
up it was to see her leaping over the tall grass at a 
good speed, though one hind leg swung helpless. 

We considered her abundantly able to take care of 
herself, so did not go any farther, but returned and 
secured the hides of the others which we keep as me- 
mentoes of a very trying experience and gracious 
deliverance. 



142 Sketches from the 

I might remark here in passing that the king of 
beasts has a spouse worthy of him in every particular; 
indeed the lioness is considered by far the more dan- 
gerous of the two. It is a fact that the female does 
most of the work — a la native, you see — pulls down 
most of the prey, after which the majestic monarch of 
the plains coolly appropriates the feast to himself, 
and his mate must fight for what she gets, until he is 
satisfied and retires. You will perhaps recognize in 
this a reason for the familiar expression, " the lion's 
share, ' ' used when one person gets the larger end of a 
transaction over another. 

An encounter with a rhinoceros once nearly 
ended my career as a missionary. I was out with my 
people on one of our, at that time, frequent hunting 
trips up in the mountain range. My head-man, Ki- 
kuvi, and I had become separated from the rest of the 
party. We were crossing a ravine the sides of which 
were quite precipitous, and through which was a 
swamp filled with thick swamp-grass. About half way 
down the hill-side, Kikuvi suddenly stopped, pointed 
to a clump of bushes on the opposite side and said, 
'* Bwana ! Mbuzya huko !" (master, rhinoceros 
yonder.) I looked carefully but could distin- 



Dark Continent. 143 

guish nothing that looked like an animal, only a big 
something partially screened by the bushes, which I 
thought was a large boulder, many of which were lying 
about on the mountain-side. 

Meanwnile we had been moving down hill, and as 
there had been no movement in the bush to indicate 
life, I said to him, "Ni ivia tu, " (it is only a rock). 
But he insisted it was a rhinoceros, and I asked him 
what made him so certain. He replied that he had 
heard the " rhinoceros bird," as he called it, a kind of 
bird which hovers round these huge beasts con- 
tinually, and where the one is, the other is almost 
certain to be found. 

But I had not seen or heard the birds, so concluded 
he must be mistaken. "We will go across the 
swamp, " said I, and suiting the action to the word, 
started in. If I had known what I did a few moments 
later, nothing could have persuaded me to cross that 
swamp. But as it was we made no pretense of going 
carefully. 

When we reached the other side we were within 
twenty yards of the bush, and still there was no sort 
of movement therein: still only the appearance of a big 
rock screened by the bushes. A little bit of a tree 



i44 Sketches from the 

stood within ten yards, and to this we made our way. 
No sooner had we reached it than that silent bush 
woke into life, and Kikuvi's confidence was found to 
have been well-grounded. 

Even then I could not tell which was head or tail 
of the animal. All I knew was that there was an 
enormous brute there within thirty feet, and he was 
getting ready to charge ! Kikuvi pointed to an 
opening in the bush where the body was visible and 
said, "that's his shoulder, master!" and I, raising my 
rifle, and guessing where his heart ought to be, if it 
were indeed his shoulder, prayed for help and fired. 

Instantly there was a snort, or a series of them, 
as the huge beast tore out of the bush and came 
straight for us. There were the two of us behind the 
wee bit of a tree, which did not begin to hide us ! 
The question uppermost in our minds was, "which side 
of the tree will he go ?' ' However for a few seconds 
he seemed bent upon- bowling us over, tree and all, for 
he did not swerve until he got within ten feet of 
us. I stood next to the tree, my black man directly 
behind me, both of us poised, ready to spring to one 
side or the other the moment that big, ugly form indi- 
cated its preference. The moment he turned slightly 




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Dark Continent. 145 

to the right, we whirled around in the opposite direc- 
tion just in time to escape him, for I could have 
put my hand on him as he passed us. I saw he was 
badly wounded, and for that reason did not turn on 
us, but crashed through the bush, and when we 
followed a few minutes later, we found him lying dead 
on the hill-side about seventy yards away. 

That night the natives camped beside the carcase, 
and next morning cut it up and brought it into the 
station, where it was portioned out among the hungry 
people. 

Thus did the Lord enable us, by meeting the 
merely physical need, to pave the way for the supply 
of the soul need. We literally shot our way into the 
hearts of the people, not by sacrificing them, but by 
saving them. Soon these once suspicious, distrustful, 
treacherous natives, began to ask if they might not 
build near the station, for there, said they, there is no 
" Mulonzo, " (trouble). So the foundations were 
laid for a blessed work for God, which shall not end 
untH the last black slave of superstition has heard of 
Jesus, the L,amb of God, who taketh away the sin of 
the world. 



146 Sketches from the 

INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS. 

We have striven in the foregoing pages to tell as 
clearly as possible, the actual condition of native life in 
East Central Africa. We have seen their deep degrada- 
tion ; we have marked the all but hopeless stalling of 
every noble impulse ; and we have discovered too, 
that deep down beneath the surface of these lives, 
there is capacity for developement, there is large hope 
of something worthy our utmost endeavor ; these lives 
may become transformed and quickened by the Spirit 
of God into earnest, consistent, helpful, Christian men 
and women. 

Now for a little while, let us consider carefully 
just what we mean by the term "Industrial Missions" 
in connection with missionary effort in Africa. In 
the first place let us clear the ground somewhat, by 
coming to an understanding of terms. 

First of all, what is said here relates to only one 
field out of the many, and that field possessing very 
peculiar and distinctive features, presenting just as' 
peculiar and distinctive problems for solution. Let us 



Dark Continent. 147 

see then, that the method is very closely related to the 
field and the need. Industrial missionary effort has 
been condemned by secretaries and others, who, while 
they have visited some great fields in round-the-world 
tours, have as a rule, by some strange oversight, passed 
Africa by on the other side. They have a working 
knowledge of conditions in India, China and other 
fields, which is thoroughly to be desired, but we hold 
that it is most unjust to insist that this knowledge 
shall determine the policy of work in a field so widely 
divergent in every sense as is Africa. 

Again let us determine the aim of missionary 
work in Africa. Unquestionably the supreme and 
determining aim — that to which all else must be sub- 
ordinated — is evangelism — preaching the gospel for a 
witness to all people. 

We do not forget that what the world needs first 
and above all, is not changed social conditions, but 
Christ. Except this be the coyitrolling aim, all our 
missionary effort must fall flat, and fail utterly of its 
purpose. Changed environment does not necessarily 
lead to changed hearts, but there never can be a real 
change of heart that is not followed by a radical clean- 



148 Sketches from the 

sing of the social conditions which immediately encom- 
pass it. 

But is this all ? Ought we not to aim at some- 
thing more than this, namely, the creation of a self- 
supporting, self-propagating native church? If so, 
how can the end be attained most effectively ? 

The farmer does not sow his seed and then leave 
it to a precarious existence — a struggle against rocks, 
and weeds and thistles ; he prepares an e?iviro?ime?it for 
it, because he wants not merely a harvest, but a 
heallhy harvest of good, plump, solid grain. So he 
takes out the stones and weeds, and gives the strug- 
gling seed a fighting chance for its life. 

Now that is precisely what we mean by Industrial 
Missionary work. Not converts merely, but strojig, 
healthy converts : not life merely, but enough life to 
propagate itself, a life that can stretch its glowing, 
quickening self, upon the dead selves around it, and 
make them feel. We mean to help the African so to 
change the conditions that surround him, as to realize 
the highest possible ideal in the christian life, and so 
make him a positive force in the advancement of the 
Kingdom of Christ, rather than a mere negative 
adherent. Instead of giving him the blessed truth of 







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Dark Continent. 149 

God, and then leaving him to struggle against an 
environment that throttles his best effort, and floors 
him again and again, we simply aim to give him a 
good honest chance, by removing as far as lies in our 
power, the limitations that confine him : in other 
words, "loose him" — take off the grave-clothes, the 
wrappings of his dead past — " and let him go. " 

Manifestly in such fields as India, China, or 
Turkey, where social conditions are either buttressed 
by law, or imposed by religion, it would be unwise 
and dangerous, as well as useless, to antagonize them 
by assailing them directly. Here the steady procla- 
mation of the Gospel, and the acceptance of Christ in 
individual lives must be left to work itself out in the 
social environment. 

But in Central Africa, we meet with entirely 
unique conditions. Here we have no semi-civilized 
peoples, with subtle philosophies, social structures based 
upon law and industries some of'them of a high order. 
We do have barbarism pure and simple, with its social 
anarchy, lawlessness, and consequently instability of 
character; we have disgusting practices in private; and 
degrading, demoralizing conditions in social life, but 
without the same patriotic or religious motives which 



150 Sketches from the 

obtain in other lands. Manual labor is a disgrace, 
consequently womanhood is reduced to servitude, 
doomed to drudgery, a mere beast of burden. There- 
fore, since idleness and ignorance are the twin parents 
of crime, it can scarcely be wondered at, that Africa's 
annals furnish one long tale of frightful cruelty, un- 
paralleled suffering, and hideous atrocity. 

If it is true that ' ' the time to begin the training 
of a child is two hundred years before it is born," 
then it must follow if we are to realize our aim of a 
self-supporting, self-propagating native church from 
such material, the regenerate units who are to com- 
pose that church must from the first be aided in the 
direction of a responsible manhood ; lost will-power 
must be retrieved ; and the usually weak, vacillating 
character re-enforced by means of a careful training in 
habits of industry. 

How can the African bear another's burden, when 
he does not bear his own ? By training him in habits 
of industry, we create in him a stability of character 
otherwise impossible, and without which he will ever 
be vacillating and unreliable; a wave driven by the 
wind and tossed ; a prey to every evil passion ; a mel- 
ancholy picture of the house swept and garnished, only 




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Dark Continent. 151 

to be possessed again by seven other devils worse than 
the first. 

There is no reason why ' ' mission boys ' ' should 
be looked upon as they are in too many cases — as 
spoiled and lazy, thinking only of getting into Euro- 
pean clothing, and speaking execrable English. Surely 
it is an injustice to them, and a dishonor to Christianity 
not to show them the way to help themselves to a 
nobler, truer manhood which must repudiate these 
unworthy suggestions. 

In more ways than one does the artizan missionary 
aid in the work of evangelizing barbarous people. Let 
me give a practical illustration : I was making a table; 
everything but the top, which was made from my 
" chop boxes, " had to be hewn out from the rough 
timber by hand. Kikuvi watched me carefully, and 
his surprise increased, until finally the table stood com- 
plete before him. The whole proceeding had been 
wonderful to him. u I see a new thing to-day, " said 
he, ' ' I thought God made these things and gave them 
to you white men, but now I see you do it yourselves. " 
It was but the work of a moment to refer him to the 
astonishing fact, that once our ancestors were savages 
too, but when we heard of the true God, and obeyed 



152 Sketches from the 

Him, we became strong and wise to do these things. 
Instantly the query came, "If you have done this, 
why cannot we? So the making of a table becomes 
the occasion of an effective gospel message. 

With the people of a single tribe scattered in 
families over a territory many thousands of square 
miles in extent, it is simply impossible with the present 
force of workers, to compass the work. The only prac- 
ticable way — and in the end it will prove to be the 
quickest way — to evangelize Africa is to establish, say 
in each of the larger tribes, one large industrial mission 
settlement. The land is fertile — utilize it ; it will pro- 
vide food, reduce expenditures, and further, may go 
a long way toward solving the vexed problem of mis- 
sionary support. Employ here large bodies of natives 
in agriculture, and simple, useful handicraft. 

Experience has shown the writer, that when once 
their confidence is gained, they are quite ready to 
work for the white man, and especially the missionary . 
Now then, you have a body of people directly under 
your influence day by day ; the message of to-day is 
going to be followed by the message of tomorrow, and 
you have a reasonable assurance that the seed will 
take root. Why do you have revivals and weeks of 



Dark Continent. 153 

prayer in the home lands? Just because it has been 
demonstrated beyond a doubt, that when people hear 
the gospel continuously for a given length of time, 
they are more likely to consider its claims seriously, 
than if they heard it only at intervals of even a week. 

Human nature is the same in Africa as in America, 
only the difficulties are multiplied. Why then should 
we not expect speedier results and, because of the 
manual training involved, more permanent results, 
from such a plan than from the itinerating plan ? 

Africa must be won by the African, hence to train 
native evangelists and place them in out-stations under 
missionary supervision, seems to be the best course to 
pursue, in view of the inadequacy of the force of mis- 
sionaries, and the insufficiency of funds. In this way 
we conserve our force and accomplish by far the 
greater good in the least possible time, and that too, 
with greater prospect of permanency. 

"The Friend's Africa Industrial Mission" has 
been formed with the object of putting into effect the 
above principles in a mission settlement to be founded 
near Lake Victoria Nyanza in East Central Africa. 
( see map. ) 

The work will doubtless be divided into four de- 



154 Sketches from the 

partments, namely : evangelistic, medical, educational 
and industrial. Each department will be under the 
direction of missionaries thoroughly trained for this 
special service. 

While world powers are dissecting the Dark Con- 
tinent for commercial advantage, we propose for the 
honor of our King, and in His Name, to stake out a 
claim ! Richer ore than Klondike gold, fairer jewels 
than Kimberly diamonds await the prospector for soul- 
treasure ! The King desires them — we will bring 
them to Him. 

1 4 Is true freedom but to break 
Fetters for our own dear sake ; 
And with leathern hearts forget, 
That we owe mankind a debt ? 
No ! true freedom is to share 
All the chains our brothers wear ; 
And with heart and hand to be 
Earnest to make others free. " 



Dark Continent. 155 



A QUESTION OF RIGHTS. 



4 'Speak, History ! Who are life's victors? Unroll 

thy long annals and say 
Are they those whom the world calied victors, 

who won the success of a day ? 
The martyrs or Nero ? The Spartans who fell at 

Thermopylae's tryst, 
Or the Persians and Xerxes? His judges or 

Socrates ! Pilate or Christ ?' ' 

11 Save thyself and us, " cried the impenitent thief 
as he swung beside the dying Son of God. And this 
has in large measure come to be the standard of effort 
and giving for the world's evangelization and the ameli- 
oration of humanity's woes. If we can do anything to 
silence the cry of human distress without inconven- 
iencing ourselves; if we can save others and at the 
same time spare ourselves: if we did not have to go 
out of our way to minister to the bruised and suffering 
unfortunates that line the higways of life, well. 

But the thought of sacrifice is repulsive as a prac- 
tical thing, beautiful and sublime tho it be as a peror- 
ation from the pulpit. Peter-like, we are forever dis- 
appointing our Lord and dishonoring our profession 



156 Sketches from the 

by protestations against the necessity of giving up our 
rights for others. Do we forget that we have 710 rights 
ourselves to give up? Was not the question of 
1 ' rights ' ' settled in favor of Jesus Christ when He 
took our place, paid our debts, established our credit, 
and gave us whatever standing we possess in the 
world ? ' ' Not your own — bought with a price ; ' ' does 
not this settle once and for all, this question for the 
christian ? Whatever rights I have — and they are all 
His gift — must henceforth be held at His call. 

( ' Pity thyself, ' ' says Peter when the Lord first 
broached the startling news of His impending death to 
His disciples. Yet Peter-he who had declared his 
belief in the Messiahship of Christ, the first to dis- 
cover the real identity of their Lord — so far misses the 
real purport of that mysterious life as to upbraid His 
Lord when He mentions the thought of suffering in 
connection with His coming Kingdom. Let self-pity 
come in, and that moment we cut the nerve of success- 
ful service. Naught but heroic renunciation of self 
for the sake of other selves will meet the demands of a 
suffering world. More "lost lives" would mean 
more saved souls. More seed scattered would mean a 
richer harvest. 



Dark Continent. 157 

"Save thyself and us !" But that is just what 
the Son of God could not do. Himself and them: not 
even the exercise of His divine power could have 
wrought that. He might have saved Himself, but if 
He had, the world would have been plunged in end- 
less night — the last ray of hope extinguished. Would 
He do it ? The pain was wrenching His body; the 
agony was inexpressible, and His human nature 
might have given way under the fearful strain. 
What if it should ? What if He had considered His 
rights as against the rights of these miserable wretch- 
es that hung at His side, jeering, cursing, railing 
upon Him? There was the justice of God yet unsat- 
isfied, the divine judgment still impending against 
the sinner. The blow against sin must strike some- 
where : it must be either the sinner or the sinner's 
substitute. The choice lay between saving Himself 
and saving them ; one or the other must be sacrificed ; 
one only could be saved. 

He choose to save them by the sacrifice of Himself. 
He drank the bitter cup to the dregs ! He suffered 
that keenest of all anguish — alienation from the 
Father's face ; for the first time in all the eternity of 
His existence failing to meet the Father's smile ! He 



158 Sketches from the 

became as though He were sin ; therefore an outcast 
from the presence of the Holy One ! Rejected of men, 
for a time forsaken of God, behold, the Son of man 
treads the wine press alone ! Alone. Oh the wonder 
of it ! Come, ye ease-loving christians, bring your 
plummet and fathom the depth of that alcneness! Alas! 
the well is deep and ye have nothing to draw with. 
Loneliness such as this, thy soul may never know. 
Alone ! That the guilty sinner'swhose place He took 
might never be alone ! 

"He saved others, Himself he cannot save." 
The very fact of His having come to save others pre- 
cludes the possibility of His saving Himself. 

Nor did God spare His only Son. Having volun- 
tarily taken the sinners place He was treated as a 
sinner, that we, if we believe on Him might never be 
so treated. He tasted death in a sense in which we 
never could, and that too for every man. He is the 
propitiation for the whole world. 

And did you hear what He said : "As thou 
Father has sent me into the world, even so have I also 
sent them into the world ? ' ' Eve?i so, yet we continue 
to consult self rather than God : our convenience 
rather than their necessity : expediency rather than 



Dark Continent. 159 

duty. Busied about many things, we have missed 
the one important thing. We tithe mint and anise and 
cummin, and leave undone the weightier matters, justice 
and mercy. Have ye not read, "I will have mercy and 
not sacrifice?" God cares more, infinitely more for 
the spirit of the sacrifice than for the sacrifice itself. 

God help us ! We are so busily engaged in saving 
ourselves — saving our health, saving our strength, sav- 
ing our time, saving our bank accounts — that we have 
scarcely time to consider the souls of men ! So the 
great mass of Christless humanity, 800 millions strong, 
stagger hopelessly along under the stupefying drugs 
of superstition, or stumble blindly in the dark, ignor- 
ant in a world flooded with light and knowledge ! 
And they are likely to continue stumbling and stag- 
gering for centuries to come, if present hap- 
hazard methods continue. 

The gigantic business of self-preservation has 
swallowed up or almost effaced the business of saving 
others. I grant you that "self-preservation is the 
first law of nature, " but you shall not, indeed 3-ou 
cannot make it a law of grace. Nature says "pity 
thyself," grace says "deny thyself." Nature says 
" My desire, " grace says " His will. " 



160 Sketches from the Dark Continent. 

Hands full, too full to bear the bread of life to 
starving souls: eyes full — so full of the dust of earthly 
visions that they fail to see the shepherdless multi- 
tudes ; ears full, so full of the rattle and roar of com- 
mercialism that the sob of human lives adrift in the 
night never reaches them : hearts full, so full of the 
world and its spirit that heathendom's shivering nak- 
edness wrings no response, unless it be a shrug or a 
sneer. God help us ! Does Gethsemane with its 
bloody sweat, and the judgment hall with its crown 
of thorns and scourge, and Calvary with its cross and 
broken heart, mean no more to us than this ? Are 
these but the symbols of a creed, or do they stand for 
a life to be lived out before men ? Shall we forever 
crucify the Son of God afresh on the cross of our 
convenience? God forbid. 



THE END. 



JUL 26 1901 



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